Crickety CRACK. Clackety CLACK.

I got my Peace Fleece!! It's much greener than my monitor displays, but I love it. I think it'll make a beautiful Rogue.

Lately, i've been really boring. Crocheting has made my wrist hurt a bit, so I'm going to be forced to freaking finally finish Soleil. Which is about 3 rows and some seaming away from being an FO. Why do I stall on my almost FOs? Anyone else do this?

In life entertainment news, I've given up being in pain, and went to a chiropractor. I'm yelling "UNCLE" because my lower back has been in pain for over 2 weeks... ever since I got back from Telluride. More evidence that I'm an old lady, b/c the combination of horseback riding and car driving for 7 hours has had my back out of whack ever since. The chiropractor says I 'threw out my back.' If those words don't make you feel old when they're applied to you, then you've got a much stronger ego than I do...

Two days, and two treatments later, I'm doing better. Has anyone else gotten 'adjusted'? I wish it was as simple as it sounds. He 'adjusted' me yesterday, and then just now. What I want to know is, what the hell did I do between yesterday and today that I would've popped my vertebrae out of alignment AGAIN? I sat in a chair for about 5 hours, with a bit of standing and walking thrown in. Then I dragged my butt home at 10pm, and went to bed. In any case, there was a lot more CRACKING than I expected at the chiropractor today.

Here's the best part of my whine...i get free massages when I go in. I DO NOT ENJOY THESE MASSAGES. They HURT. I have deep muscle BRUISES from these massages. In my ASS. Seriously. I asked the Doc about it, and he says, yup, expect some bruising... it's therapeutic. I wonder if this feeling of 'crap, i'm paying to be bruised?' is how my clients will feel when I make them uncomfortable in the process of psychotherapy. Shit.

Beat down

The Denver area has had scorching, melting hot temperatures the last two weeks. I feel like I've gotten a huge beat down...

BUT. You can always count on fiber to brighten up your day, right?
Before:

After:


From left to right:
1) A lovely creamy ball of Heirloom 5ply which is pure new wool made in Australia.
2) a huge skein of some lovely worsted weight wool, which I'm supposed to use to try my hand at dying.
3) 2 skeins of some Amy Blatt Magnolia in a lovely sea green color.
4) a ball of some heathered grey Oro Inca superfine alpaca (which is OH SO SOFT)
5) a bit of some handspun
6) a delicately colored 5 ply, machinewash, villawool.
and some treats!

Thank you Celia!!! I hope you like your package as much as I love mine. I'm already munching on the treats. (and the sachet of potpourri was a great touch. all the yarn smells so...fresh!)

We thought an little international swap would be fun.Celia and I set a $$ limit, and asked each other about color preferences, and off we went to spoil each other.

At Cathi's house last friday, which included all the usual suspects. And then some. I met Gwyn, Wendy, her friend Julie (who is a local and needs a blog), and Natalya. Michaele made her last MHCknitters knit group before leaving for Utah. I hope the book writing goes swiftly, so that she can hurry back to CO.

Wanna see why I got nothing done?



Cathi's furbaby decided my Soleil works better as a kitty bed. I preferred him laying on it vs battling the beautiful yarn.

What have I been up to while I've been not blogging?


I've got 5 babies to make stuff for, some of which are works in progress (the babies), some of which are in the planning stages. All of them due within a year (if all goes well). The blanket on the left is a double shell pattern, the right is called spiderweb (shudder). Do you see how differently the yarn looks worked up in the spiderweb?

Last, you can always count on kids for a good laugh.

I mean really. The boy's 2 yrs old. It must be innate.

Needle Exchange

1. What do you like to knit or crochet? (socks, sweaters, etc.)

I've knit a couple tank tops, some scarves, and a pair of socks. I'm attempting my first sweater (Rogue) in August.
2. What fibers do you like?
I love wool, and anything soft. Squeaky fibers (most 100% acrylics and some silk blends) make me shudder.

3. What type of needles do you use most often?
Who doesn't love them some Addis? I love both the Turbos and the Naturas.
I also love Brittany DPNs, and covet my one pair of Lantern Moons.

4. Do you like to knit in the round?
I prefer to knit in the round...saves on seaming...

5. Do you use a magic loop method or any other we should know about? Are you interested in learning a new method?
I would love to learn a new method. I use DPNs for socks, but am intrigued by
the magic loop method.

7. Do you have a favorite place that you shop online? (knitpicks.com, knitpixie.com, jimmybeanswool.com....)?
I buy from WEBs yarn and Ebay most often. I am trying to convince my wallet
that I can afford a shipment from knitpicks.

I thought I would add what needle sizes I have already, just in case

DPNs: I have sizes 1-6. but not 1 1/2. I have longer DPNs (6-7")
but want to try shorter ones.

Circs: I have size 3-9. my size 7s are the only pair of addi naturas, and they're only 12" long. the rest are at least 24" long.

Straights: I use these less and less frequently. I have size 6, 7, 8, 10.5s, and 15s.
I prefer shorter ones, since I only use them for scarves.

Oompa Loompa

I took my buddy (who's 5) to lunch and a movie yesterday. We had originally planned to see Herbie Fully Loaded, but the movie time I had gotten from Moviefone was WRONG. We watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory instead, which was... different.

A few things:
a) Johnny Depp's a good looking guy. Now, he's never rung my bells, but I can see the appeal. Why does he take these strange roles?

b) Squirrels? Where are the golden geese?

c) I wanted the flying fizz.

d) "What do you get when your kid is a BRAT?" was nowhere to be found. Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but those Oompa Loompa songs about the other kids were my favorite parts of the movie.

But overall, it wasn't a bad re-make. I just wonder if they should've waited a bit longer until they remade the movie.

In knitting news, I've been bombarded with helping Celia with the International Secret Scarf Exchange. I have a whole new appreciation for Rox for hosting the SP5 with over 600 participants! What a headache and logistical nightmare that must've been!

I also started on a sock for my Sockpal-2-za hosted by Alison. I'm using the pattern out of the Fall issue of Interweave Knits for these socks (scroll down). I'm having some laddering issues... here's a close up.




Do you see the evil kitty trying to attack my sock? I sincerely hope my sock pal is NOT allergic to kitties.

Anyone have suggestions on how to tighten up? I'm not laddering where I switch from needle to needle, but in the ribs (going from K to P, but not from P to K). I have this same issue on my Tempting, which might be why I'm stalled/not particularly motivated on that project.

Small gripe about this pattern... hello? Everyone does NOT have the same size feet! Please write the pattern in a manner that can be easily modified for larger or smaller feet! Sheesh!

I've also got my match up for the Needle Exchange hosted by Catherine. I can't wait to have fun with that exchange!

I'm almost done with the back portion of my Soleil tank. Why is it that finishing is so hard to do? A pic of it finished by the end of the week, blocked or not. Though, seeing as I haven't touched it since Friday night... hmm.

Finally, I ordered yarn for Rogue. Stacey and a few others finally convinced me to use Peace Fleece for the project. I had bought some Cascade and Lamb's Pride with Rogue in mind, but decided that neither the purple blue Cascade color nor the red Lamb's Pride was going to do the pattern justice. So I bought this color.

What? What did you say? Am I going to return the other two sets of yarn?
If you truly asked this question, then you are either a) not a knitter, b) out of your ever lovin' mind, c) don't know me at ALL, or d) a combination of the above.

To-Hell-You-Ride (Telluride)

I love the story of how Telluride got its name... who knows if there's any truth behind it, but I'll ride to hell anytime if that's what it looks like!!

If you don't want to read about my week in Telluride, and just want to get to knitting content... look for the line of **************************s.

My week was filled with mountains, waterfalls, gondola rides, kids, and my best friend. I had my whole car packed with food, toys, movies, books, clothes,
and of course knitting. Though Telluride is known for it's skiing, summer time is terrific out there. Horseback riding, white water rafting, jeep tours, hiking, fishing, tanning, biking... beautiful scenery and blue skies lulls you into a calm and peaceful frame of mind.

Here are some pics...






That would be the best friend and her kidlet in the gondola ride (aka the flying train). The pic on the left shows him giving her a manicure (I got one first). He is very careful about making sure to get up and under the nail.



That's all four of the kidlets I was hanging out with last week. The youngest is my best friend's little boy, then there are the twins who are 7 yo, and the oldest is 8 yo.

here are my awwww moments. That QT pie wouldn't let me go to bed on my last night there... "No Cynie...don't go to bed. Stay." This kid has me all wrapped... b/c when he says come, i go, when he says stay, I stay, when he says swing, i swing. So I stayed and cuddled with him for a few minutes. When I finally said good night, he turned to his mom (my best friend) and said "Mommy...I love Cynie. I love Cynie." Made me all verklempt and teary. Today, they called me from the airport and he told me "Come Cynie! I want you to come." When I told him I loved and missed him, he gave a big goobery kiss to his mom's cell phone. Yeah...he's got me wrapped.

I drove back on Tuesday...and made it in 6 hours! I came home to freshen up, and off to class I went. Has anyone seen The Color of Fear? Such a powerful documentary that helps illuminate the effects of racism. After facilitating the processing of the film...

**********************************************

I left class early so I could go to the Littleton MeetUp at the Barnes and Noble. If you live in the Denver Metro area, and haven't signed up... click on the link and come knit with us! No pics b/c I was pretty zonked, but Michelle is just about done with her graduated top, Stacey worked diligently on her Crumpets for her niece, Stacey's mom worked on a beautiful scarf made of elsbeth lavod silk tweed, Tam ripped out a just about FO (eek!), Laura and Terri were too far away for me to talk to...


Now for the exciting part... a gift from my SP!!! I went to the Post Office to pick up my package and ship Celia's international present of fiber goods.




See what I got? My SP was really paying attention b/c she got me a BAG. Anyone who knows me knows that I love bags and shoes...see the cute embroidery/patch that proclaims that THIS is a knitting bag?

Some Regia sock yarn in a pretty blue, white, and brown pattern, bath bombs and bath confetti in LEMON scents (mmmm YUMMY), some soothing Peach tea, and I can finally say that I own the bookbookbook!!!!!

Update pics of soleil coming soon...I've made quite a bit o progress...

Sis-boom-bah!!

I love fireworks...and I have a terrific view from my balcony, which faces Mile High Stadium, er, Invesco Field. I've had people over for the 4th in previous years, but since it's almost illegal to celebrate the 4th w/o grilling some burgers, and I don't own a grill, I watched the works on Saturday night. Invesco put on a show all three nights...









But let's get back to unfinished business. Brown sheep.
these machines do something to the yarn. twist the plies, wind it off the cones, something something. I was too in awe of all the yarn in the factory to be paying attention to what the tour guide was saying...






These are lovely lovely huge bins of just finished yarn... I love that sage
green color, which wasn't to be found in the shop. Sniff. And do you SEE those boxes and boxes of yarn? Ready to be shipped to a store not near you? The factory is much smaller than you would expect, but good news!! They have new machines coming in soon, might be there already, which will speed up production!!




I'm a mean mean honorary auntie. A friend brought her puppy to the 4th of July celebration dinner in this crate, in which I convinced little man he belonged. That would be him trying to crawl in backwards at the urging of his Auntie CynCyn.
All you mommies will probably not let me near your kidlets now. I am really good with kiddos...how else do you think I convinced him to get in?





Oh. Still catching up here. Here's the finished OSW. I made it out of less than one skein of Candy Blue Cotton Ease.



Closeup of the picked up stitches on the shoulder that I've been complaining about at meetups. Obviously, I need to get a tutorial on how to pick up stitches when there are increases involved in the pick up area...any volunteers?




Last but not least, a pic of us enjoying ourselves at Jenifer's home last Friday. Her hubby and kids are adorable, with some super hosting skills. We had designer sodas, wine, food coming out of our ears, and adorable rugrats making us all go 'awwwww' when they asked mommy to sing them to sleep. From L to R, Cathi, Stacey, Shirley (who doesn't have a blog), Kristen who I finally got to meet!, and Michaele, working on her VIB projects.



We've got from l to r, Lesley working on her Bad Penny, Michelle working on the ever tricky Triada, and Wanda, also working on her Triada.


I'll be gone (again) for a week while I spend some time with my best friend, her boy, husband and his three kids. Yes. 4 kids total. We'll be in Telluride, which I'm convinced is the most beautiful area in Colorado. I've got class tonight (teaching, not taking) until 10pm, and I leave bright and early tomorrow morning to make the long drive. Hopefully, I'll have time to knit while I'm there, but I have the sneaking suspicion I'll be spending most of my time playing with Roman, and Thomas the Train.

Brown sheep, brown sheep, have you any wool?

(and again) yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.

SOMEBODY stop me!! Although, I'm placing the blame/glory of these three bags o wool firmly on Lesley's shoulders. Her insidious and evil plan to use her day off to go to NE to Brown Sheep turned me to the dark side.

My will was not strong enough to fend off this...




and this



and to show you I was thinking of my local knitting friends, I present...





What did I come away with?





I have pics of the factory as well, but little time means little post!!