This is my fantastic Spin To Knit swap package #1. Didn't my pal do a fantastic job? The yarn is smooshy and poofy and I can't wait to knit it up into something! The sock yarn is Lana Grossa and the handmade soap is from Three Waters farm. It smells divine!



And this is my (almost) finished Bejewled scarf. As you can see, I still need to weave in the ends, give it a bath and block it out a bit. Please excuse the rather crappy photo, the camera batteries were dying and I had to take what I could get!

Lots of news for this post, but no pictures, sorry!

My Spin to Knit secret pal package came today and it is gorgeous! I received a lovely skein of yarn, a sample of the fiber used to spin the yarn, a skein of sock yarn, and a handmade soap! I promise to get a picture of it and post it within the next few days.

The results are in and I passed the NCLEX! Yep, I am now officially a registered nurse. Yippee!! All those years of school will finally pay off! :) Unfortunately, my very good friend who took the test the same day I did did not pass :( She is understandably depressed and I have to admit it took some of my happiness away, as I was hoping to share it with her. But, all is not lost... she can retake the test in 90 days and I am sure she will pass it with flying colors. She just has a lot of stress and life things happening right now which (I'm sure) detracted from her ability to study.

Bejeweled is almost finished, but it has taken quite a bit more yarn than the pattern called for. By the time it's complete I'll have around 400 yards of aran weight yarn invested, but wow are the results gorgeous! Next on the needles will be the beginnings of Emerald by Knitty done in Fleece Artist Country Mohair in the Pinata colorway. More on that later....

STOP THE PRESSES!!!

I am now officially employed! Yes, Valley General Hospital realized that they couldn't run their business without my services (snicker, snorkle, snark) and, in their infinite wisdom offered me a job! I'll be working nights on their Medical/Surgical/Telemetry unit as a Registered Nurse. Imagine that!

I don't know when I start just yet, the official job offer has to be tendered by their HR department, I have to officially accept, and my orientation has to be set up. Plus, I have to pass the NCLEX.... and I take it Thursday, 1/25.

Wish me luck!

I think I'm ready to try knitting a sweater. I know, I want to learn to knit socks too, but can't I do both at once? I do suffer from knitters ADHD and get really bored knitting the same thing for ages. At any rate, I have 7 skeins of Fleece Artist Country Mohair in the Pinata colorway coming to me and that would be the exact yardage I need to knit Emerald from the winter issue of Knitty. The pattern looks to be fairly straightforward and it's a style that would work for my body type. The only thing is that I wouldn't have ANY additional yarn. My yardage works out to be 1 yard over the suggested yardage for my pattern size. Oh well, lifes a crapshoot, right?

Nothing else new here, still job searching and hoping someone will call soon. Still studying for the NCLEX, still knitting on Bejeweled. Sheesh, if it takes me 2-3 weeks to knit a scarf a whole sweater ought to take me about a year, huh? hahahahaha

Happy Martin Luther King day!

Still working on Bejeweled. I swear I am the slowest knitter in the universe! I'm just beginning my second skein, which means I've knitted 200 yards so far. If the pattern is right, then I only have 70 yards more to go... we'll see how I like the length at that point. I still hope to have enough yarn to make matching mitts out of. I can't order more because it's a "non repeatable" color from Sundara.

Now, on to the real meat of this post. I have never knitted a sock. Not one... I've started a few and frogged them due to errors. Socks are something I want to learn to knit. I have books, needles, pamphlets, internet sites and yahoo groups all willing to teach me sock knitting. Once Bejeweled is complete, learning socks is next on my list.

Why is this part of this post? Well, this morning I thought I'd inventory my yarn stash. Scary thought, I know! I didn't get through much, just the sock yarn. But what an eye opener! As I said above, I've never completed a sock, yet I own over 8000 yards of sock yarn! Yes, you read that right. Eight thousand yards. WTF is up with that? Now, in my defense, almost 1/2 of that 8K is Henrys Attic Kona superwash that I bought to dye. Still, I own it and it's sock yarn, right?

I have sock yarn from Opal, Regia, Sundara yarns, Shelridge Farm, Dicentra Designs, Scouts Swag, Koigu and Fly (small local hand dyer). What makes this really funny is that I've been mentally fuming because I simply can't afford to sign up for the Socks that Rock 2007 sock club. I could cough up the money, but right now things are a bit tight and 210 dollars is a chunk of money we can use for something else. Plus, I can always buy STR yarn, right? And not have to come up with all that cash right now, right? And... I already have enough yarn to knit about 20 pairs of socks anyway, right?????????? (can you tell I still want to sign up for the club?)

Anyway, I'm not going to sign up for the club and I am going to learn to knit socks. Maybe once I've halved my sock yarn stash I can go on a spending spree and stock up on STR. Or maybe by then there will be a different "gotta have it" sock yarn out there I can stock up on! :)

Have a great day! ***the photo is of the sock yarn basket, sans the undyed Henry's Attic***

Yep, this is the beginning of Bejeweled, a lovely pattern from
Shobhana. There's a link to the knit along on the sidebar. It's a great, easy to memorize lace pattern that is creating a yummy fabric!

I'm knitting this in a luscious aran weight silky merino from Sundara Yarns. The yarn... I can't say enough about this yarn! The color (which my pictures do not do justice to) is a deep and shiny greeny-blue and it feels like butter sliding through my fingers.

For needles, I'm using the size 9's from my KnitPicks Options set. I love these needles! The tips are pointy, making those S1K1PSSO's really easy, and the slick finish lets the yarn just slide across the needles. The cables are fantastic and the joins are totally smooth. I'm definitely a convert... can't imagine using anything else for lace work!

If I have enough yarn left when the scarf is finished I'm designing a pair of matching fingerless mitts. The pattern calls for 270 yards and I bought 400 yards, so hopefully I'll have enough!

More later..........