A fresh start

Life has been challenging these last two years and I am in serious need of a creative outlet. I stopped blogging not too long after discovering Ravelry but I fully intended to return.

Then life had to go and get all crazy. Long story short (with a long run on sentence)....we left Japan, moved to California, found out we were expecting, found out hubby received orders to Iraq and was leaving for a year, decided to buy a house in Iowa so I could be near family while prego and after delivery, hubby broke his hand, it required surgery so his orders got cancelled, baby DA came 6 weeks early, spent two and half weeks in NICU with our son, hubby had to return to San Diego for three months and then go to Iraq, moved DA and I to San Diego so we could all be together in a little studio apartment, found a hole in hubby's retina during pre-deployment screening, orders got cancelled, we were stuck in a studio apartment for 7 instead of 3 months, hubby got orders to Illinois for 4 months so we moved back to Iowa, now we're back in San Diego, this time in a 2 bedroom and with a year to go. I'm taking college classes online in order to (finally) finish my AA degree and plan to graduate in the fall. Then its on to the big bad BA! Hubby is up for orders in January and by June we'll be on our way to somewhere new. Phew! Did ya catch all that? Dizzy? I am!

DA just a day old

DA now

Now that life is settling into a sort of routine I've decided it's time to start blogging again. I'm still knitting along although not as much as I used to. Having a toddler in the house limits my craft time and I've also taken up sewing again. My hopes are that this blog can serve as a place to organize the endless projects I want to create.

So while I gather my thoughts, yarn, fabric, and camera go check out a sweet Flirty Apron give away over at Sumo's Sweet Stuff.

Celebrity look-a-like

This was just too fun not to post.

Howdy Stranger

I've been gone for a while. Work has been keeping me busy and my knitting is suffering. I've had to frog a few projects because I had forgotten where I was in the pattern.





Wave good-bye to Pirate Haystack and Bellatrix. The pretty pirate is back in my stash waiting for a new purpose in life. Bellatrix was only ripped back to the cuff and has been reincarnated as Eleanor.

I think this pattern is a much better fit for this yarn. That's Fleece Artist Sea Wool in the Midnight color way.

In addition to Eleanor currently on the needles is Molly. Might I add this is my first attempt at cables?!

Speaking of knitting firsts. I did my first ever toe-up sock!! This is Phineas in Regia bamboo #1062. I've got some major second sock syndrome going on with this one. There's just too many new projects I want to start.

It's been a while huh?

Ok so my blog has been neglected for a while. But guess what!? I got a job!! Hopefully this will help keep me busy (and mentally occupied) while my Sexy Sailor is gone. I'm really enjoying it so far but it leaves me exhausted at the end of the day. Which means, my knitting time has taken a big hit. Despite the decline in knit time I have a few FOs for you. Some have been finished for a while but I just haven't gotten around to posting about them.

First up. The finished Menehune Cobblestones socks for my mom. The yarn is the fabulous
Yarn Pirate in the Rain colorway.

OH! Speaking of Yarn Pirate I signed up for the booty club!! This is my very first club and I am so excited.

These are my Mermaid Matrimony socks. Which I happen to be wearing right now and they are sooooo soft. The pattern is the Gentleman's Matrimony Celebratory socks from Sock Bug. The yarn is Fleece Artist Sea Wool in the Mermaid colorway from The Loopy Ewe. The sock blockers are also from the Loopy Ewe.

Next is a little hat I made for a friend's daughter. I forgot to take a picture after I added the icords but you get the point. The pattern is the top down bonnet from Hello Yarn. The yarn is Mystical Creations (I won't go there right now) in the first kiss colorway.

This doesn't really count as an FO but I thought I'd post a pic anyways.
I'm participating in the LimeNViolet scarf circle over on their message board. Basically everybody get a list of names and addresses of people in the circle. You start off by knitting 6 inches of a scarf for yourself and then send if off to the next person on your list. Each time you receive someone's scarf you add 6 inches. So by the time your scarf makes it through the list you have a finished scarf from all around the world. Aren't knitters wonderful people? :) So anyways here's the scarf I just added to. The picture isn't the best but I think the concept is so cool (does anybody say cool any more?) that I had to post about it.

Finally a couple things from my pottery class. Not my favorite piece but it took so much time that I'm hoping I'll warm up to it. The glaze around the outside was supposed to be green. So much for that. :) Oh, it's supposed to be a vase in case you were wondering.

Last but not least is my lantern. That I have yet to use. :) It's just sitting on my tansu begging for a candle to be put inside. One of these days I should do that. Oh yeah, in case you were wondering about that castle I was working on. It has been glazed and fired but the colors were horrible. Even my sensei didn't like it. So why all the glaze color issues? We have like 5 colors to choose from because the order for new glaze was on back order. So sensei told me I could re-glaze it when the new colors come in. I hope it works or I will be so disappointed.

Look what I'm making!

Up to this point my blog has been mostly about my knitting. Well that's all about to change. I've always dabbled in various crafts but it wasn't until I started knitting that I really made anything on a regular basis. I guess that got the ball rolling because I'm trying all kinds of new things. So I figured I would share my polycraftual skillz (yes I went there) with the blogging world.

A month or so ago I started taking a pottery class at our base community center. One day I walked into class and sensei brought this catalog/magazine over to me and next thing you know I have this castle. Since I took this picture I've added several rows of windows on both sides. It's ready to be fired and should be waiting for me to glaze at the next class. Keep your fingers crossed for me that it didn't crack!

I'm it!

OMG! Someone actually read my blog. Ok so there are a couple other people that have stumbled across it but still! I feel like a real blogger now. What's all the fuss about you ask?

FiredUpFairy tagged me with the 7 things meme.

The rules: Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those who are tagged need to write on their own blog those 7 facts as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven other people and list their names on your blog. Then you leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

1. When I was little my nickname was Omi and my family used to call me Omi-wan kenobi.

2. Since moving to Japan I have become obsessed with cherry blossoms (Sakura in Japanese). Anytime I see something with a cherry blossom design I have to have it. I have dishes, a coin purse, lotion, wall hangings, and I want to get a cherry blossom tattoo before I leave.

3. I am a closet fantasy geek. I have a huge dragon collection that lives in my home office. I read fantasy novels and will watch just about any movie with a fantasy theme. I even have two dragon tattoos.

4. I can't grow my fingernails to save my life.

5. My dad is a musician and when my younger sister and I were little he used to take us to the nursing home to sing Christmas carols. I have pictures of us standing in front of a mic in our 80's dresses with Dad in the background playing guitar. I love that.

6. We don't have any kids yet but everyone wants us to have a boy. Sexy Sailor is the only boy so he has to carry on the name and all of my siblings have girls. Problem is, I really want a girl!

7. My Sexy Sailor and I like to quote the elevator scene from Mallrats.

Wow that was more difficult than I expected! Since I really don't "know" any other bloggers I think I will use the I stalk L&V ring to randomly tag people. If anyone I've tagged isn't a fan of memes please forgive me and I totally understand if you don't want to do it. But hopefully this will be a way to "get to know" a few fellow L&V fans! :)

Here goes..

Dragons do knit

Handcrafted Happiness

Get a Clew

Crewgrrl

Kit knits

Wanda

Froggin' knit up

This should be fun! Happy knitting!

Socks and stuff

Told ya I wouldn't learn my lesson. It's been almost a month since my last post. Bad Gnome! Wanna know my excuse? I won't blame my dad this time. Instead I'm pointing all fingers at my Sexy Sailor! He's finally home!! So now that we've established that I'm just a slacker with an excuse let's move on to what I've been knitting. :)

Remember the picture of all my yarn pr0n last month? There was a sock in progress in there and this is what it has become. A beautiful pair! I L.O.V.E this colorway! It's Spring is Here from Spritely Goods. The pattern is Tropicana from MagKnits June 2006. I added some 3x2 ribbing for the cuff. These were also my April submission for Socktopia for the April Showers theme. Blue for the rain, green for the new growth and brown for the mud. :) I'm so clever. Ok forget that part. Onwards!

I just took this off the needles. This is the first sock for a pair for my mom. The yarn is Yarn Pirate's Rain colorway in the Menehune Cobblestones pattern. I think I'll use them for my May Socktopia submission under the Ahoy Mateys theme, since it's Yarn Pirate and they're blue. Either that or.....

These! More Yarn Pirate. This color way is Pretty Pirate and I'm using the Hay-stack pattern.