a dillydallyknitter: October 2006

Monday, October 30, 2006

Who Is the Most Spoiled Knittyhead in the World?


I AM!!

On Saturday I received the most adorable hand made Halloween card from my CA$P with the cutest Halloween themed decorated recipe cards in the world. Martha's got nothin' on my SP!

And then I came home today and found TWO packages from my Spooky SP! Seems she mailed one package a couple weeks ago and the other a few days ago and by some spooky Halloween trick, both treats arrived on the same day!

I can't believe all the goodies! Halloween candies, hot apple cider mix and spiced wafers! Candles, a cute pumpkin candle holder, spooky cookie cutters, a "wool of the bat" magic potion bottle, decorations, GLOW IN THE DARK nail polish, Frankenstein bubbles, Halloween post-its, scary spiders, the prettiest beaded stitch markers and...the perfect Halloween themed yarns: 2 skeins of Jamieson's cobweb ultra (get it? cobweb? get it?) and, sqeeeeeeeeeeeee, Lisa Souza sock yarn in the Little Devil colorway.


Stitchmarkers protected by big black spider:


Lisa Souza yarn. I've been listening to Lime and Violet sing the praises of Lisa Souza sock yarn for months now and have been dying to get my paws on some.

Shades of black and deep to light red to white.


She even puts the date it was dyed on: 10/03/06




Mika surveys the package wrapping frenzied-ripping-open-of-carefully-wrapped presents aftermath


Thank you CASP!
Thank you Nicole, Spooky SP!

You're both amazing and wonderful and so much fun!

posted by cpurl17 @ 8:14 PM   5 comments

Saturday, October 28, 2006

First Socktoberfest Socks!

And...unless I knit like the wind over the next few days, my ONLY pair for this month. Work's been busy so the knitting time has been scarce but I'm happy with how this pair came out.

These socks are yet another example of the kindness of Knittyheads! The yarn was a RAK from the fabulous ZKnitter and the pattern was a sneak peek from the soon to be published, Soap Fiber Gal!

The pattern is called Scales Skin Socks (S.S.S) aka Snake Skin socks and has a picot edge cuff.


The yarn is Sunshine Yarns by Dani and in the Dragonfly colorway.



Cary wants to give a shout out to the St. Louis Cardinals for winning the World Series! Even tho' we're Oakland A's fans, Cary is grateful to the Cardinal's Manager, Tony La Russa, for co-founding the incredible ARF (Animal Rescue Foundation).


A few years ago Cary was on death row at a shelter somewhere in central California when he was saved by ARF volunteers. They took good care of him until the day he was adopted me 2.5 years ago. He's still a little shy from his life on the streets but has adjusted to his current life of sleeping in the sun, sitting in the window and stealing balls of yarn quite well.

posted by cpurl17 @ 10:30 AM   14 comments

Friday, October 27, 2006

YP Trick Or Treat

This week's YPF features the rest of the Little Knits Cherry Tree Hill order from a few weeks ago.




Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in blues and greens (I can't remember the colorway name)


Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Red Hot & Green



Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Purple Rain

Happy Halloween!!

posted by cpurl17 @ 12:00 AM   11 comments

Friday, October 20, 2006

At Last! Socks That Rock

Last weekend, Leftcoastknitter and I went to the Grand Opening of a new yarn shop,Purlescence. The shop is cozy and friendly and one of the owners is Nathania, the creater of the 12:01 Pumpkin basket pattern.

The highlight of the trip was that I finally got to fondle the much talked about Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock. They had some lucious colorways so it was hard to restrain myself and pick out only a few to bring home.

First up is a colorway called Lagoon. It's meant for a gift, but I liked it so much, I bought one for me, hehe.

Deep blues and greens--darker than they appear here






Next up is a colorway called Love-in-Idleness

Deep teal, maroons, greens, purples and dark pink



Last up are some socks I'm sending to my buddy Zknitter for a swap. This is Sock Candy yarns (96% cotton) in the Lapis colorway:



And I close with Lolly's Soctoberfest question of the week:

Where have your handknit socks been?

I just learned sock knitting this year and haven't been able to afford any exotic vacations so my socks have stayed local.

What is the furtherst they have traveled?

Seattle, Wa

posted by cpurl17 @ 8:24 AM   16 comments

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Who Knows What Evil Lurks....

...in your medicine cabinet?

This week's Blogstalkin' assignment:

To seek out the wierdest thing in our medicine cabinet.

Tucked away amongst the aspirin, sunscreen and the bottle of NyQuil well past the expiration date, is a plaster mold of my teeth.


I gnash my teeth while sleeping so the dentist ordered me a nightguard (very sexy) to wear at night. This is the mold they made to form it. Pretty creepy, eh?



And....
Today I received a package of Halloween Tricks & Treats from my CASP!



Lot's of candy--Bit 'O Honey, my favorite! A magic trick, a coloring book and some cute tissues and a black cat pencil topper. All accompanied with a cute handmade 3-D pumpkin card. Thank you SP!

posted by cpurl17 @ 3:30 PM   9 comments

Friday, October 13, 2006

Fall Comes to California

By Way of Nova Scotia...

..in the sumptious form of Fleece Artist Merino wool.



Fall Song
Another year gone, leaving everywhere
its rich spiced residues: vines, leaves,

the uneaten fruits crumbling damply
in the shadows, unmattering back

from the particular island
of this summer, this NOW, that now is nowhere

except underfoot, moldering
in that black subterranean castle


of unobservable mysteries - - -roots and sealed seeds
and the wanderings of water. This


I try to remember when time's measure
painfully chafes, for instance when autumn


flares out at the last, boisterous and like us longing
to stay - - - how everything lives, shifting

from one bright vision to another, forever
in these momentary pastures.

-Mary Oliver




posted by cpurl17 @ 2:25 PM   9 comments

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Just Two Little FOs

Over the weekend I finished the 2nd scarf for Think Pink Project and they're boxed up and ready to mail--just in time for the Oct. 15 deadline.

On Sunday evening, using the Ken's Dulaan hat pattern, I made my first hat for the Dulaan project.

I used 3 strands of Paton's merino wool and US#17 needles and it only took an hour! The guage came out smaller than the pattern but the hat should easily fit a child.

posted by cpurl17 @ 7:32 PM   5 comments

It's Our World and Cpurl Just Lives in It.

Hi, this week's Blogstalkin' Assignment is being presented to you by me. My name is Mika and I live with my brother, Cary and we're both looked after by our caretaker, Cpurl. It's a view of our world from our point of view.

First off our daily schedule:

1. Sleep
2. Eat
3. Play
4. Sleep

Our morning starts here. We have to wake up our caretaker. We're usually pretty gentle and patient but sometimes use the Stand on the Chest method to get her going. Sometimes we do it at 3 in the morning, hee hee.

Going downstairs for breakfast. We like to play "steal yarn and roll down the stairs".

Mealtime! I'm pretty meh about meals but my skinny brother is usually waiting by his bowl. Cpurl changes our placemats with the holidays. As if we notice.
After breakfast Cary sits in the window. When I was a kitten I couldn't jump up on the ledge but now I go where ever I want. Even places I'm not supposed to.

Playing in one of our favorite toys, a tunnel. At the end you can see my bed.

Cary at the other end.
View out the front window. We like to keep up on what's going on in the 'hood.


Time for another nap. I like to sleep in this big basket sometimes.
It's a good life.

posted by cpurl17 @ 9:40 AM   12 comments

Friday, October 06, 2006

Plain Vanilla Yarn PrØn

Simple YP this week: One cone of Zephyr lace weight 2/18.



5,040 yards of 50% wool, 50% tussah silk.

I don't even really know what tussah silk* is but it sounds fancy so I used it.
I'm saving it to make a shawl someday after I improve my lace knitting skills.



*Tussah silk is produced by wild silk moths instead of the cultivated moths used for the white, smooth silks.

posted by cpurl17 @ 9:17 AM   14 comments