Illcation

I wasn’t on a vacation.

I was on an illcation.

You know, when you are ill and all you can do is lay down and sit up for limited amounts of time.

Apparently I got food poisoning from a Subway sandwich the night that Shawn and I were going out for his birthday.

Luckily we bought his cake Thursday and I didn’t get sick until Saturday. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss his cake.

{It’s chocolate everything.}

There’s been no knitting. No sewing. No nothing.

Except for one thing.

There was shopping.

I bought some Dream In Color Classy for my Tea Leaves Cardigan. (I ordered from Eat. Sleep. Knit. and  I won a skein of Dream In Color Smooshy. Woo hoo!)

{Good Luck Jade.}

And then yesterday afternoon while I was checking my inbox I got a new message telling me that I was exclusively invited to my not so local LYS’ Sunday Sale from February 3-5. Meaning, I get to check out their sale stock first. Woo hoo! (Again.) I picked up some Rowan Wool/Cotton for my Sabbatical Sweater, a few skeins of Glacier Del Cielo for a top for Scout and a few skeins of Rowan All Seasons Cotton for a hat she wants.

And that’s it. I promise. Yarn wise, anyway.

I’ve kept my eye on a few new books,

all of which are going to get me in trouble because I’m already neck deep in projects. I’ve already planned two quilts and some feltie projects. And I have sewing classes starting next week. And I just recently found a little hole in the wall embroidery shop with the most gorgeous designs I’ve ever seen. I might need CA. (You know, Crafters Anonymous?)

The rest of my illcation was spent on sleep. I’ve been sleeping a lot. And you know what? It feels so good.

As for the “Meet Bob and Steve” contest! Our winner is: #4! Alisa! Alisa, email me at iknit(dot)ipurl(at)yahoo(dot)com, with your color preferences and once I get back to the sewing machine I’ll send along your customized kitty. Thanks everyone for playing! I’ll have a new contest up next week.

Til then, I’m taking a nap.

Loss For Words

The past couple of days I’ve been at a loss for words. I’ve been waking up with these hideous headaches and absolutely no motivation to do anything. Of course, the dishes get washed and the laundry gets folded. But for the most part the wonderful wet rain has gotten me in a lazy mood.

It takes a little bit longer to wake up in the morning. I lay in bed, under cover, and listen to the drip, drip, drip of the rain as it hits the puddles outside our bedroom window.

I find that my afternoons have been filled with warming up in an oversized blanket and laying around the couch. I’ve even been known to fall asleep with Scout laying in my arms. Her light snoring is like a metronome. Spellbinding. Rythmic.

In the evenings I tend to come to life. It’s dinner time and the household is on edge. What will it be tonight? Chicken Parmigiano Strips with Spaghetti. Brown Butter and Balsamic Tortellini. Or maybe some Navy Bean Soup. It all depends.

And then for no known reason I’m off to bed at 8:30. I get back under cover and flick on the table lamp and I begin reading. Right now it’s Daphne. I slowly fall asleep thinking of Morgan and Luna, characters in a short story that I’ve been formulating.

Next thing I know it’s morning all over again.

But with this laziness comes a bit of a hidden depression. Maybe because the rain inhibits me from getting all the things done that I need to do. Like walk Rogue. She’s completely and utterly afraid of falling water. Or getting to the library to pick up some books for Scout (we read two to three at nap time and I’d completely ran out for three days straight). Or even getting to the grocery store because I completely forgot to buy some flat parsley.

Whatever it is I believe Shawn saw through it. So he treated me to a drive in the rain and I small shopping spree at the not so local LYS.

I’d decided to get some yarn for the Cedar Leaf Shawlette that I fell in love with. I mean, look at those little leaves!

{Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend}

I’d also perused the shop to see if there was anything I could do about substituting yarn for the Sabbatical Cardigan in this issue of Twist Collective. I didn’t quite find what I was looking for so I’m going to keep searching until I find the most perfect yarn for this gorgeous sweater. So instead, I decided on just one more skein of SweetGeorgia Tough Love Sock because…well, because. I also snuck in a copy of the new KnitScene and the new Debbie Bliss Magazine because…well, again, because.

{SweetGeorgia Tough Love Sock in Mist}

And just to prove to you that I haven’t been completely lazy, I have been using my sewing machine.

You’ll just have to wait to see what this is all about.

Til then: Stay Dry and Stay Warm.

Shopping

As the dark clouds ominously rolled over the mountains we began our journey to the Country Fair Antique Shop. The boast 100 shops for all your shopping needs. I’ve gone there a few times and I’ve never left empty handed. Too many treasures to be found in the dusty corners of each booth.

Today was no different.

Isn’t it gorgeous?

This twin sized crocheted afghan was just sitting on top of a bureau. The booth was pretty empty, I assume they were either setting up or closing business.

And this is the kicker…

Yes, it really does say $3.00.

So Shawn bought it for me. And $3.29 I was a much happier woman. Especially walking out into the rain and thinking about what other treasures my day would bring.

Mainly it’s consisted of sitting on the couch under my blankets and knitting a new Minimalist Cardigan.

Two treasures in one day. I’m lucky.

Party On

I can’t believe it’s been one year since the last party at Unwind.This year I was invited to the “preview” party and I have to say that we had so. much. fun!

Jem and I had dinner together at Porto’s Bakery. As always it was delicious. I had a Medianoche Sandwich (slow roasted pork, ham, swiss, butter and relish on homemade bread) and an Apple Turnover. I swear that their turnover pastry has the flakiest crust I’ve ever had. It was soooo good.

The we walked down Hollywood Way with a quick detour to the sports card shop and threw the shopkeeper a measly bit of business. Slowly we walked down the street peeking through the windows of other shops. There’s a pet shop I’ve never noticed and a Jelly Bean Factory!

I can only inundate you all with some fiberlicious pictures in the end. The party was a great success but photo ops were limited by all the human traffic in the shop. I had a great time chatting it up with Kelly and Dawn from Namaste. They make it difficult to not purchase new swag. Their bags are awesome. I am still in ♥ with my peacock Malibu that I got from them last year. I also met someone I had swapped with a few years back when I was hosting the “Sock It To Me” sock swaps. Totally neat! I got some very nice compliments on my “Stella” beret (which I realized I never showed you):

And then I stocked up on yarn. Because you know I really needed to.

No, really.

My first sweater of 2010 is going to be “Elsewhere” by Amy Swenson. So I just had to buy some Manos del Uruguay Rittenhouse Merino. I bought every hank in this colorway:

And then I realized I would need some new sock yarn because they just stocked up on Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock. I knew that if I didn’t grab it now I’d be waiting a while to get my hands on it again. I am in ♥ with Riptide:

I also grabbed a skein of her Merino Silk Aran in Espresso so I could finish up my “Snapdragon Tam” by Ysolda Teague.

I hope that Ravelry, Manos del Uruguay, Namaste and all the other sponsors will come back to Southern California next year for their third year! The party was just a lot of fun. It’s been a while since I’ve had such a good, yarny, fun time now that our LYS’ have closed their doors.

So now I’m off to go pet my yarn. Ooops. My dog. I meant my dog. {Insert sneaky chuckle.}

The New Year

It’s officially 2010. Two thousand ten. Or two thousand and ten. Or twenty ten. I suppose it depends on who you ask. All the same, it’s new and fresh. A new beginning. A clean blank slate.

And I have a new obsession.

It started out innocently enough. Honestly. I purchased a Littlest Pet Shop set for Scout, for Christmas. And then I learned they have “limited edition” animals. And you know what their new limited edition animal is? A platypus.

Yes. The quirky and rare platypus.

All common sense was thrown out the window when I found out about their owls, (I only had to pay $13 for a Snowy White Owl on eBay). And then they had a sheepdog, (only $8.08). And then, the ultimate and elusive hedgehog. Yes, hedgehog.

I’m in littlest toy paradise.

But the hedgehog, you see, was not a regular in stock item. In store or on eBay. Not if I wanted to be practical and pay just a few bucks.

Then today it happened.

Shawn and I just happened {insert evil laugh} to go to Wal Mart. Lo and behold I saw the one lonely box sitting on the cold metal shelves.

There he was.

I admit my greed and excitement overcame me. There was a group of giggling girls, not much older than nine or ten I’d say. And they didn’t see it. They didn’t realize the importance of this little creature. Shawn hurriedly grabbed him, threw him in the cart and we were on our way. (After I looked through every single box looking for a Siamese Cat, a Brown Owl, an Opposum, a White Ferret…)

What a way to start the year.

Nothing but yarn

Not much going on at the homefront but for a speedy 29th birthday, (Shawn’s), runny noses, (Scout), pink eye, (Jem), and trying to get into the groove of 2009. I’ve found that catching up to all of my household duties has been a real struggle. But I’ve made the time to get most things back into working order and have made even more time to do some IRS tax return shopping. I leave you with my fiberlicious finds.

Caramel Apple Fingering Silky Merino by Sundara (this was the Autumn shipment which I don’t subscribe to, I was lucky enough to buy two skeins from someone destashing)

Intention: February Lady Sweater

Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca and Silk

Intention: Originally I bought it because the color and then I thought about Henley Perfected, then I realized I didn’t have enough hanks so I’m opting for Silk Shrug

Navy Blue 100% Organic Wool

Intention: Thorpe and scarf for Shawn

Rowan Chunky Print

Intention: owls sweater

Lest you think that was all of my yarn shopping I should advise you that it was not. I just scored during a Sundara update- two skeins sock yarn and one skein silk lace. (There’s another update tomorrow, do I dare?) I also lucked out on someone destashing Vesper and Sundara Limited Edition sock yarn. I’m waiting for the postman to deliver those.

So what does one do with all of this string stuff? One knits.