Joaquin Phoenix is playing Johnny Cash?

That is brilliant! I've been seeing the promos for the movie Walk the Line all over TV and am really looking forward to the movie. Of course I will be watching it after everyone else when it comes out on DVD, but never matter. Joaquin Phoenix is a wonderful actor and I love Johnny Cash. My dad has always like country music and my mother is a blues lover so I heard a lot of Johnny Cash growing up. Love it!! Thank you for all the good health vibes sent our way. The kidlets are basically all better, but I'm still lagging. I'm at the stage where you generally feel better, but have that dry hacking, nagging cough that disrupts sleep. I hate it. I should feel much better by Halloween though which is important as it will be the Boy's first trick or treating experience. He's going to be Batman (of course). Little girl is destined to be a pink butterfly. I don't have much knitting news to report. I am putting a dent in my lists of doom. Much work has been done on the handmade journal, and I've got everything prepped and ready for the November 1st cast on of the kidlets Christmas Stockings. My Snow White sweater is almost done; I just have to pick a collar. I'm leaning towards using a shawl collar rather than a regular V-neck. Pictures by the end of the weekend, I promise! I took this little quiz and the results are fairly accurate, down to the profession. It's also strange as purple is my favorite color. Hmmmm...

Your Aura is Purple Your Personality: You're a dreamer and visionary. You believe you were put on this earth to do something great. You in Love: You're very passionate but often too busy for love. You need a man who sees your vision and adopts it as his own. Your Career: You need a job that helps you make a difference. You have a bright future as a guru, politician, teacher, or musician. What Color Is Your Aura? Take This Quiz :-) Find the Love of Your Life (and More Love Quizzes) at Your New Romance.

We're off to do a little Christmas shopping this weekend at the new Kohl's. I hope we can knock a few gifts off the list...

Here's the Boy and his Spidey bag. He loves it.

   

Freaking out in the House of Sick

Everyone except for Mr. Crafty is sick. I have redubbed our home, the house of sick. The best part is since the boy is in two preschools now, we get to be sick a lot this season. I had plans to get flu shots for us all today, but now I'm pushing it off a week to try to give us a chance to beat the ick. For the kids, this task should pose no problem. The boy is already back up to lightening speed although he is a bit stuffy still. Little girl is still sick, but even she shows moments of brilliance. I, well, let's just say, a burning sensation in one of my sinuses along with an incessant cough are not good signs. Now for the freaking out part. Out in the blogging world, I know that many of us are feverishly working on Christmas gifts, or are starting too. Amy, lucky and talented girl, has already finished one gift. Ok, now I'm officially freaking out. I haven't cast on a stitch for any of my gift/holiday projects, and it's almost November isn't it? I've decided to clear everything off the knitting plate, except for my short sleeved sweater I'm almost done with to make time for the Christmas list of doom. What's on that list? 1a) Book cover for a handmade journal for the handmade journal swap. (This needs to be done right away, as the journal needs to mailed off to pal by the end of November. This also means I have to finish designing and executing the innards of said journal.) 1) 2 Christmas stockings for the Craftylilly children. (My first socks!) 2) Sophie Bag for my friend. 3) 3 sets of 2 spa washcloths for various friends and family. 4) 3 scarves for various gifts. 5) Writing up the pattern for the Double Happiness Bag. Sublist of minor brimstone (Things I really should try to also get done but may not happen) 1) At least 4-5 bracelets or necklace earring sets for the etsy store. 2) The denim slipcover of the purse bottom for the Double Happiness Bag. 3) A faux fur purse I'm mocking up on the sewing machine. 4) Spinning the rest of the Mexico roving. Sub-sublist of sulfuric gases (Things I'd like to finish or be working on, but who's kidding who here) 1) Kepler (I'm so knitting behind) 2) Blackberry 3) Twist 4) Banff To distract all of you from my lists of doom, I do have some other crafting news. I joined Lu's Stashbusters. In reality, all knitting from this point through the New Year will be Stashbusting. I also noodled around with the new sewing machine and put together a drawstring bag for the Boy, spiderman themed of course. AND my mother and I registered for Stitches West! We're staying in Santa Clara for one night, I'm taking a class on Sunday morning. I registered for Sally Melville's, Learn to Love Intarsia. I'm hoping I got it. P.S. Pioggia, I need to spin the other half of the Mexico roving. I'm thinking of plying the yarn, as I've not tried that yet. We'll have to see when I can get it spun up though. Refer to list of doom. EEKS! P.P.S. I forgot to mention that we also saw Finding Neverland last week. Wonderful movie that made me cry. I highly recommend it. They way the movie captures the creative process is very ingenious!

Finished spinning about half of my Mexico yarn.

   

   

Where was I when Lost first started?

I mean really. It is a fantastic show! We started watching it on DVD last night since Rome wasn't on, and are totally enjoying it so far. I've also been rather remiss with the DVD review reporting of late. We still have been watching the movies... many of them. Actually everything we've seen recently I'd recommend. In the past two weeks we've seen Kingdom of Heaven, Batman Begins, and the Boondock Saints (thank you Elisabeth). Kingdom of Heaven is fairly entertaining. Historically, Hollywood didn't totally screw everything up although there are some hinky elements. Orlando Bloom is ok, but I really enjoyed many of the other actor's performances like David Thewlis, Jeremy Irons, and Liam Neeson. Batman Begins... Well, first of all Christian Bale is a very good choice for Batman and the story is told quite well. Christopher Nolan, the director, has some very interesting shots, and used the backdrop of Gotham City to good advantage. It is a dark Batman, which I enjoyed. Much less campy than the ones made by Tim Burton and others. Katie Holmes is in it though, and with all the Tom Cruise nonsense, well that just took away from her performance for me. Boondock Saints was just a good movie. Fun, a but campy, quirky, and a good story. Oh, and I forgot to mention a movie we had to stop watching it was so bad, Amityville Horror (the new one). If you must, see the original. Thank you for all the positive comments and feedback about my double happiness bag. I am in the midst of typing up the pattern and will be posting it once I get it done, for those who expressed interest. I just love felting. I think I need to make a pair of slippers next. Anyone know of a good pattern? My Knitty Secret Pal sent me a fun package with a sweet Halloween Kitty, a fab book (Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques), some blocking pins, and a CHIBI!!!!!! Woohoo! I've been wanting a Chibi!!! Thanks SP. I've been knitting away at a short sleeve sweater out of GGH yarns that I hope to have done soon, and my ruffles scarf. I've set November 1st as the date I need to start my kid's Christmas Stockings, and I have a purse to make my friend for Christmas. Meanwhile I've been meaning to start Kepler, Blackberry, and some scarves for gifts. Something tells me I'm not going to get this all done...

   

   

   

Some double happiness!

I've put some finishing touches on a bag design I've been working on using Lamb's Pride. I used three colors, Medieval red, slate gray, and old sage. I think they really go well together. I knit the bottom flat and then picked up stitches and knit the bag in the round using size 11 circs. There's a pocket that I added on the back, and the Chinese symbol for Double happiness that I knitted into the front panel using intarsia, a first for me. I also added a button hole closure. Overall, I'm quite happy with it. It fits a medium knitting project quite nicely. I enjoyed charting up the double happiness symbol so much, I'm thinking of doing other symbols like love, joy, luck, etc. I have one last thing I'm going to do which is to cover a piece of cardboard with some denim to firm up the bottom, then it'll be all done.

Here's where we stayed in Palm Springs. An oasis in the middle of the desert! 

Don't take the road through the San Bernadino State Park

On your way to Palm Springs... I'm back from my spa/bachelorette weekend! We had a great time. I started my journey by waking up at 4AM on Saturday to make a 6:40 flight down to good old John Wayne Airport in Orange County. You gotta love an airport with a big old statue of the Duke out front. I went to the bridal shower luncheon first, and then off to Palm Springs. We took a really funky route with lots of windy roads. We were all quite car sick. Blech. It also looks suspiciously like the highway in the movie Breakdown with Kurt Russell. Creepy. Once in Palm Springs we headed to our lodging, the very swanky Viceroy Hotel and Spa. The organizer of the event had booked us a Casita at the Hotel, which essentially is a 2 bedroom condo on the hotel grounds. The room was beautiful. The hotel is gorgeous. Imagine LA Confidential/Brat Pack like lodgings. Tres Chic. A good time was had by all. I learned a few things on the weekend. A dirty martini is one with olive juice added. Blue Cheese martini olives are a specialty item. Sometimes it rains in Palm Springs. When a pilot comes on the intercom and says that the flight will be choppy the entire trip, he means it. An hour of solitude with a good book, and knitting is divine. Palm Springs is a fun town and warrants a longer visit. For those wondering, I did get to knit a little. I worked on the Ruffles scarf using the Rowan Calmer. I understand the Rowan Calmer cult. The stuff is wonderful to work with! I've got a knitting project almost finished that I'll be posting about soon, and some other WIPs that I'll tell you about once I've caught up on life at home.

Sales and lampshades

No, I'm not going to talk about a sale on lampshades. You'll see how these two things connect by the end of the post. First off, thank you to all who left such supportive comments about my rejected jewelry pattern. I've decided to start selling them on Etsy in a variety of colors, custom made for $25. Of course, anyone is welcome to make them themselves by using the free pattern, but if you're not set up for or don't want to make them, and/or know someone who'd like one, steer them my way! I also have updated my Bargain Bin site with three more yarn lots. Take a look! Now to lampshades... I've been told that SAHM's are the craziest party goers at a Bachelorette Bash. That's where I'm headed this weekend! I'm flying down to So. Cal. for my friend's bridal shower, and then a few of us and continuing on to a spa weekend in Palm Springs. I hope I'm not the one wearing the lampshade on my head. I'd hate to have those kinds of pictures around somewhere for someone to find. Sheesh... I've decided to take the Ruffles scarf pattern and some Calmer along with me. Hopefully, I'll get some knitting done!

Here's a yellow and lime example of my Textural Right Angle Weave Bracelet.  

Here's one example of my Textural Right Angle Weave Bracelet. You can find the pattern free on my sidebar. 

Here's my lovely yarn from Chile!! The picture really doesn't do it justice. The Flame is a thick/thin yarn with an orange and brown wrap. The upper Tempestad looks like a variegated yarn twisted with a peach one. The Hawai is a very silky (like Microspun) yarn but a fingering weight. The yardage is crazy on all the balls. The yarn is mostly acrylic, but it's gorgeous and good for my sometimes wool sensitve skin.  

I got a reject letter in the mail yesterday...

A couple of months ago I submitted the design that I came up with for my SIL's wedding bracelets to Beadwork Magazine, Interweave's beading publication. I got a very nice letter back, but ultimately it was a reject letter. Ah well, my rejection means that I am publishing it for free on this blog. Check the sidebar under my belt pattern. I know most of you that read or stumble upon my humble blog are interested in knitting content, but if you are interested in beadwork and would like to take a stab at it, my pattern is very easy and makes a nice, pretty bracelet. Plus when you get the hang of it, you can crank them out for holiday gifts like nobody's business! Along with the disappointing mail, I got some wonderful mail yesterday. My swap with Sally arrived and what loot it is! She sent me 6 balls of a yarn called Flame by Lanabel, and 5 balls of another yarn called Tempestad also by Lanabel. She threw in two balls of yarn for my kids as well: Hawaii, in peach for little girl, and Tempestad in brown and blue for the boy. The yarn is gorgeous and exotic (for me anyway as it comes from Chile which is where Sally lives).

We're all still at Falcon Crest.. and grandmother rules the roost

Come on now, who remembers Falcon Crest... Who watched Dallas, Dynasty, and Knot's Landing... One of the many things "media" things I remember about the 80s was watching Dallas, and Falcon Crest with my parents. Those shows were all about 80s cheese. If you watch the current Desperate Housewives, you get the idea; only these stories were about the rich and how they scheme and backstab, not the local neighborhood. Now what reminds me of this 80s cheese? Well, I adopted a virtual pet for my blog. Scroll down the sidebar and meet Lorenzo... Lorenzo LLama. Anyone get it? I couldn't resist. In other blog news, I also updated my sidebar FOs and projects. I added a link to another blog where I list all the blogs I read. So if you're looking to expand your reading, take a look. For my weekly movie review, we saw The Interpreter with Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. Entertaining movie all around, although we could sniff out the bad guy from the beginning. We didn't get to see the second movie from Netflix, Henry and June, as we had a rather busy weekend. We did manage to finish watching Season 2 of La Femme Nikita, so I've got to remember to bump Lost up to the top of our Rental Queue.

I also received some lovely stitch markers from Johanna! Thanks! They're beautiful! 

Charlotte is a good card player. She plays close to the chest.  

Charlotte knows how to play poker

I finished up Charlotte yesterday and took her how for a spin at a Texas Hold 'em Poker Night at our friends' home. She had a good time. She helped the Mr. and I to break even, not bad for a rookie. In knitting notes, Charlotte only took about 2 1/3 balls of Ribbon Twist. I have enough left to make a skinny scarf, or a small hat. I didn't find the cables too hard to do, but it is a relatively simple pattern, using big yarn so it was easy to see what I was doing. I do feel like I can try to take on some more difficult patterns now. I think Kepler or Blackberry will be next on the Cable list. Weaving in the ends was the only sticky point in the knit. My yarn needle kept getting stuck in the ribbon part. The whole project took me three days. I love having a quick project sometimes.

The fastest project this side of the Mississippi

I swear I just started Charlotte yesterday and already have half of it done. Mind you, I only get to knit while the kids nap or after they go to bed. This thing is practically knitting itself. It helps that I'm using size 17 needles. I love the yarn, which is Rowan's Ribbon Twist. The effect of the polyester ribbon with the wool is very pretty and fairly easy to knit. This is my first cable project ever and I'm liking how they are looking. I'm definitely going to break out the yarn for Bonne Marie's Twist, and Kepler this fall/winter.

Here is one half of my Charlotte Wrap/Ponchette from the latest Rowan. My first cables ever!! 

Holy Moley, that's a lotta yarn!

Hello, my name is Jennifer and I'm a yarnaholic. I'm not quite sure how I got this way. I think it's the first time my mother suggested that I try out knitting. No, no I told her. I can't get into another hobby. Beading has taken over my life. Just try it, she told me. Two years later and we have the stash as it is today. Needless to say I am on a yarn diet. I'm going cold turkey. No more yarn for me until I've whittled down the stash at least three plastic boxes full. I mean it now! I can stop whenever I want. After the last two shipments of yarn come in, I'm done I tell you! Yarn does not control me, I control the yarn! Did I mention the same person who handed me my first knitting needles, also bought me the sewing machine? My mother, the enabler... I also have pics of my lovely SP gifts that I talked about in my last post. Heehee!!! (Rubs hands together with glee.) I also finished seaming up the Oh Sherri short cardi for my friend. I hope she likes it. I used a 100% cotton yarn called Venezia. It took almost 8 hanks to make it, but it feels really great next to the skin. For a cotton, this yarn was easy on the hands too. I modified the pattern by adding a seed stitch border to the cuffs, hem and collar. Oh, and about the stash shot, Jess suggested that we share our favorite yarn in our stash. Mine is tie between Koigu and Cascade 220. I love them both, and have a lot of both. I'm also supposed to tag a few people and throw down the challenge of showing off the stash and sharing their fave yarns... I think I'll tag Renada, Elspeth, and Jenifer. Come on ladies! I'll leave you with a funny missed lyric as coined by my 3 year old. Today as we were listening to a CD on the way home from school, he asks for a song. Now this is what I heard, "I want Candy in my Eels song, mama." Upon further conversation, I realize that what he want to hear is Jamiroquai's Canned Heat. There's a line that goes, "I've got canned heat in my heels, tonight, baby." Thus the Candy in his eels. Kids are too cute.

My lovely SP gifts!!! Thanks Knitty SP!!! 

This is the Oh Sherri cardi from Hapagirl. It's my friend's bridal shower gift. She's going to Fiji for the honeymoon and this should be perfect. 

Here's all of it in plastic. Taking it all out of the plastic would be quite a feat. 

Here's what's in a chest of drawers... 

Here we are! 

Right now my camera is taking pictures of a Raider's game

And it's not here taking pictures of my stash. I was challenged by Jess to take a picture of it all and post it. I was able to take a picture of it all in my closet yesterday. I pulled it all out of the closet to take a better picture of it, but found the camera gone. I think Mr. took it to the game. Oh well, I'll have to post the pics tomorrow. Upon reevaluating the stash, I realize that I need to go on a yarn diet. I had my last yarn acquisition yesterday. It was some of the new Lion Wool and a new Lionbrand boucle yarn called Mystery. There shall be no more until I at least can knit up a couple of my plastic boxes full of yarn. You'll see more about what that means when I post the pics. In other knitting news, I'm almost off sleeve island with my friend's sweater. I'll finish it up, seam it and take pics of it to share soon. I'm also trucking along on a surprise project. In beading news, I'm going to take a break from stitch marker making and concentrate on making some jewelry for holiday gift-giving. I also want to start on a more complicated beadweaving project. I also need to play around with my new sewing machine. I'm thinking about starting with making a little bag, just to get used to working with it. I got some lovely gifts from my Knitty SP as well! She gave me the Elizabeth Scarf pattern, some lovely Knitpicks Shadow in Grape Jelly, the book "Bags, a Knitter's Dozen," some lovely hair sticks (I see them as shawl pins!), and Hello Kitty stickers and pen. I love everything SP! I'll be posting a picture when the camera returns. I thought I'd leave you with a picture of the Mr., the SIL, and me at her wedding. You can see how beautiful the day was, and how nice it was on the water!