In honor of talk like a pirate day

I have no idea what the title of today's post means but my son assures me this is true. So here is my cat saying "Blargh" in honor of the above day.

Anyway... in knitting news I have gotten started on the Candy Wrapper Sachets I am making for Christmas gifts. The pattern is from "One Skein" by Leigh Radford. I love, love, love the patterns in this book. The sachets are recommended to be knit with Jaeger fingerweight silk but I could only find DK weight so will see how they turn out. Beautiful yarn and got it from Jimmy Beans Wool.com for 50% off. Still 12.95 per skein for 50 grams but so lucious it's definitely worth it. And can probably make 6 or more sachets from a skein. I will let you know and will take some pix. There is a lavender farm here in San Diego county and I want to fill the sachets with dried lavender from them so will find the details regarding that for a future post also.

I am noticing my novice knitting skills are improving and I am finding myself drawn to more detailed patterns so am quite excited about this. Still anxious to have a completed garment under my belt and will drag out the incomplete cardigan when I am closer to having my Christmas gifts done.

In other news I am normally not much of a beer fan but recently have been enjoying Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale mmmmmm

AHHHH Cheap Yarn and Wine

What is better than finding bargains on wine and yarn all within a few feet of each other. We have a Henry's Marketplace and a Tuesday Morning adjacent to each other and I hit the jackpot today. Found some scrumptious Concannon Petite Sirah from the lovely central coast of California at Henry's and then trotted over to TM and was delighted with some gorgeous yarn.

The light green and rust yarn is 85% merino, 10% silk and 5% cashmere. The purple, blue and cream colored yarn is 70% merino, 20% alpaca and 10% silk. $2.99 per skein!!! Can yarn be delicious? Yummy!

The head has arrived!

My daughter says I'm a creeper but I think this head is wonderful.

She is a cosmetology head so she has real human hair ready for styling, which she apparently needs! Anyway I had a very good reason for buying a "head". And here's a picture to show you what I mean.
Now I don't need anyone to model my knitted hats and scarves, I'll just put them on "Bridgette". I'll have to keep my eye out for a good price on a complete mannequin when my knitting skills improve and I start making sweaters and other clothing items.

My son says the hair probably came from a dead person but I certainly hope not. Don't some people have quickly growing hair and the sell it for this purpose? Whatever, I think it's great and I just may give her a curly new do or maybe some bangs...hmmmm

Brand spanking new blogger

Ok, I've already lost the first blog I tried to post so please bear with me on this. I am a techno "doofus" (sp?) so I am sure to make many mistakes along the way. My kids and husband are my tech support so hopefully I'll get something readable on here eventually. Warning: much rambling is about to begin, I almost called my blog "she whines and complains" but was afraid no one would ever read it :)

Anyway, I love knitting and that’s why I’m here. My renewed interest in knitting began about a year ago when I was attempting to work as a real estate agent. (Background information ahead). The high end company I worked for had a mentoring program and after nearly a year I had only one transaction so my mentor was searching for an explanation. Many mentoring sessions later, in desperation, my mentor asked me to make a list of everything I was passionate about and everything I wanted to accomplish in my life. Great assignment, I highly recommend this to everyone, and lo and behold nowhere on my list was anything even remotely close to selling over-priced homes to whiny, buyers with bad credit. Nor was listing over-priced properties owned by pretentious, delusional, greedy sellers anywhere on my life goals list. But learning to play the guitar and knitting a sweater were near the top of the page on “My dreams of someday accomplishing…”

So here I am today, unemployed, in the midst of what could be a midlife crisis and have yet to take a guitar lesson and the sweater is in a tote bag. I’m waiting for the time when I get someone to explain to me how I “…AT SAME TIME bind off center 7 sts for neck and working both sides at once, bind off from each neck edge 4 sts once.” I don’t get it, and this pattern is in Very Easy Vogue, sure would hate to see Extremely Difficult or even Mildly Challenging Vogue. But not to worry, tomorrow I am going to my first yahoo meetup knitting and crocheting group so I am hoping to get some help or at least some advice. In the meantime I have knitted a few hats for my kids and their friends. I wasn't smart enough to take pictures of most of them but from now on I will be much better about documenting my accomplishments.

Here's a picture of a hat I knitted for a little 4 year old. If I can get her to wear it I'll post a new picture. Next time looks like I should get a little closer when I take the photo.