Stash-a-sash

Last night I got a bug up my but and organized my stash. I went through the house and picked up all the wayward balls and needles. I'm surprised that my whole stash fit in a single tub. Organizing my stash left me with a question. What should I do with all my half balls of yarn? You know, the ones you have leftover after a project. You don't have anything to make with them, but you can't bear to throw them out. I know I'll be taking a couple of them to classes in the near future (a short row class, an edging class, and a crochet for knitters class) and I'll probably use the sugar'n'cream making washcloths and soap socks. But, other than that I'm stumped. (And no, I will not knit the rug from One Skein.) What do you do with your half stash?

I finally got around to frogging my Mud Flap Girl Tank. It's been kicking around for almost a year and had so much dust and dog hair on it I had to wash it first.

Also, I noticed that I haven't posted any pictures of The Idiots lately. Here's a cute one that I took while walking up the stairs yesterday.

My Kniting Weekend Continues

I just took the stained glass bag out of the washing machine. I debated about whether to dry it on something circle or to let it dry flat. I chose to put it on a wicker trash basket for now.

The handles got all twisted up in the wash so, I'm going to have to redo them.

Also, I'm over halfway finished with my Spring Felted Bag Exchange bag. It's looking pretty good. I wish I could post a picture but, I don't want to give away who my partner is.

The upstairs AC is broken again. My husband is refusing to believe it but, it's been running constantly and is 82 F upstairs. I think we have a coolant leak. I hope it's not in a place that will make it expensive to repair. We've had enough problems with the upstairs AC as it is.

I found a new favorite blog. Miss.Supafly is one of my swap-bot partners and her blog is full of stuff I want. Plus, she likes So you Think You Can Dance.

Spring Felted Bag Exchange Contest #2

Go visit some blogs for people who are participating in this swap. Find THREE people that you have something in common with - BESIDES the fact that you knit ;)Make a post linking to those 3 blogs, and tell what it is you have in common with the person on that blog!

Kristine B : She seems to have as much of a shoe fetish as I do. When I saw her May 15th post, I totally wished I could have reached through the screen and snagged all 5 pairs.

Laurie C : She hates raw tomatoes, but loves them in dishes like salsa and sauce, just like me. Raw tomatoes are one of those foods I've always wanted to like but didn't. Same with Cadbury Cream Eggs...when I was little I would buy one every year hoping to like it.

Deb : She has rubbed off on one of her coworkers. I have a male coworker who learned how to knot because of me. Also, before I knit, I got all my girlfriends into stamping in a MAJOR way.

Speaking of stamping, this week I went to a Stampin' Up party. It's the first one I've been to in years. I bought a catalog and was very surprised at how much they have changed. There were only 2 sets still in the catalog that I own AND both of them are about to be retired. Anyway, here's a picture of the three cards I made:

I should have taken the picture outside, but I'm lazy. Have I mentioned that I have a four day weekend? Don't hate. I'm going to do knothing but knit.

I'm almost done with the Stained Glass Fan Bag. All I have to do is add the handles, felt, and add a lining.

Spring Felted Bag Exchange Contest #2

Where's your favorite place to knit or crochet? Describe (or show!) us where you sit and how you most enjoy your craft!

This corner of my couch. I was going to tidy it up, but I figured I should show how it normally looks when I'm done knitting.

What I've been doing this week

This week we had a house guest, my FIL. I'm not going to say much about it except, I've had a VERY rough week at work. All. I wanted to do when I got home everyday was sit on the couch, knit, and watch my shows. This is hard to do when there is already someone sitting there watching FOX news (which is weird since he is a Democrat). Anyway, I finally got to do that last night and how much did Grey's rock?!? Plus, The Office; Total Genius.

Anyway, I've been working on this bag. I'm knitting for a coworker's birthday and I absolutely love it. I thought it would be super technical with a whole bunch of short rows (I'm afraid of short rows), but it's not. I'm using Noro Kureyon in #95.

Spring Felted Bag Exchange Contest #2

Where you live, what signifies the beginning of Spring? A favorite flower blooming? Snowmelt? Pollen (Cough cough, gak, here in ATL, thanks) Post something up describing how you knew 'Spring had Sprung' for you!

Well, it used to be allergies. Especially when I lived in South Carolina, when allergy season started at the end of January. But, luckily, since I moved to Kentucky, my allergies have gone away (knock on wood). Everyone, including doctors, say that pine pollen (the yucky yellow stuff that coats everything) is not what people are allergic to, it's all the other pollen that occurs at the same time. But, I've read medical articles that state that if you are allergic to pine nuts, you're allergic to pine pollen. Even though you can't breath it in, in coats your nose and your skin. Now that I've had my first allergy free season, I believe that this is true with me.

Now, after that aside, the other sign that Spring has sprung, is my urging to start putting the top down on my convertible. I love my Mini!

St. Louis and a Leak!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I usually post on the weekends, but this weekend Greg & I went to St. Louis to see Cirque du Soleil. The whole weekend was decadent and wonderful!!

We went to the Arch Saturday day. No one ever told us about how you get up there. I mean, we knew there was a tram and all, but no one ever told us about the 4 ft. tall doors and the super small pods that are supposed to fit five people. Here's a picture of Greg standing next to the door. He's 6'2", the steel door is not.

I have some pictures of the view from the top, but they aren't very impressive considering the windows were all smudged up from face grease from everyone pressing their faces all over them. However, the exterior of the arch is super impressive to two engineers.

I came home today and immediately saw this:

My immediate thought was that one of the Idiots got bored and chewed up some drywall. (Trust me, it's happened before.) Then I looked up.

A backed up AC drain line had caused a leak and the ceiling had collapsed. Wonderful. Good thing we were planning on replacing the floors AND Greg has next week off so he can fix the drywall.

I'm about to go to a Newcomer's meeting where everyone brings a salad. I'm bringing Tarragon Chicken Salad.

Tarragon Chicken Salad

2 c diced cooked chicken (I usually boil)
1 c green grapes, halved
1/2 c chopped celery
1/2 c chopped almonds
1 c mayo
1 T dried tarragon

Combine all ingredients

Spring Felted Bag Exchange Contest #2

Although I got all the questions right for contest #1, I lost due to luck (my name was not randomly generated in the top 2). So, I'm going to try my damnedest to win contest #2.
The first question is:
How did you get interested in felting? Did you learn it from someone, see a bag you liked? Just want to try something new? If you have a picture of your first project, please include it!

I got started felting because when I told my mom that learned how to knit, she said that she wanted a felted bag. The first felted project I made was the striped tote in One Skein. Here's a picture of the completed bag:

Here's a picture of my husband wearing the pre-felted bag (Shhh!...Don't tell him that it is posted here since he explicitly asked me not to post it. But, he is so cute, I couldn't resist.)