DB gets his sweater, and I get my Halloween Swap package!

This is the swap package from the crochet swap blog swap that I've received from Laurie, who has absolutely spoiled me with her swap package! I can honestly say that not only has she outdone herself, but this is probably one of the best swap packages I've ever gotten! (Not that I don't appreciate what I've received in the past, but Laurie has really outdone herself with this one!)

Halloween is my absolute favourite holiday, so I was glad to find out that the theme of this particular swap was - in fact - Halloween! Laurie sent me two patterns (one of which is an illusion candy corn dishcloth, and the other is felted pumpkins) plus all the yarn to go with it, some dpn's, halloween themed stamps, Pumpkin Chocolate Milk mix from the Peanuts Good Grief Cafe, a stellar halloween mug, a pumpkin candle, and a fantastic hand-made halloween themed card! :) Thanks, Laurie!

Secondly, my brother came home from Quebec where he has spent the last couple months working, so we celebrated his birthday (which was, in fact, a few weeks ago!) ... the sweater (originally posted here) he's flaunting for the pic. (Part of his head's cut off on purpose, he's not a fan of being pictured for online but I did want to include a pic of him wearing it on my blog!)

yarn lot auctions for autumn clearance!

I know that I rarely, if ever, post my ebay listings in my blog, but I'm desperately need to make some room in my little itty bitty craft room/office!

There's some yarn that's been here for a while, so I've bundled everything up into boxes and made auction lots from them! They're all up on auction for at or less than what I've paid for them! (hint hint - great deal!) Bids are more than welcome! Help me clear out a box or two!

fuzzy yarn mixed lot 595g! START BID @ COST! multicolor

red novelty & fuzzy yarn mixed lot! inventory clearance

fuzzy yarn mixed lot 430+g! START BID@COST! multicolor

fuzzy yarn mixed lot 495g! START BID @ COST! multicolor

eyelash & feather yarn mix lot 500g! @ COST! multicolor

white acrylic yarn lot worsted 50g x20 same dye lot

HUGE yarn lot! ~ DIFFERENT KINDS! ~ 20 skeins!

Bernat Boa 50gx6 yarn lot Parrot purples & Peacock blue

yarn lot + free acrylic or crochet cotton market bag that I've made:
mixed cotton lot + free handcrocheted acrylic bag

fuzzy yarn mixed lot + free handmade cotton market bag

fuzzy yarn mixed lot + free handmade cotton market bag

fuzzy yarn mixed lot + free handmade cotton market bag

Get the yarn now in time to knit up for December holidays!

Starting in the new year, I'm going to be starting my own website, so that I'm a little less dependant on ebay, although I still want to support etsy. If you or anyone you know can help me out with these listings, I combine shipping and ship worldwide! I've got a great feedback rating too! It'll wonderfully help to make some room! Thanks!

WIP mittens & a chocolatey care package from France!

These are my mitts-in-progress, that I'm knitting for my pal for the mitten swap 3 - I hope she likes them! I've done all this today, I should be finished them soon. The pattern's been adjusted from knitsimple magazine's Fall 2007 issue. Hopefully my swappee will enjoy them!

Speaking of swapping packages... I've received a deeeelightful care package from my parents in France! You've guessed it - A BOX FULL OF CHOCOLATE! woo hoo!
Also included in this package (although not pictured) is a wrapped gift for my brother's birthday and a wrapped gift for my husband's and my 4th wedding anniversary, which both occur this month.

But I'm quite eager about this scrumptious chocolate, to be honest! (My diet is going right out the window, but I dare not complain!) I do think it's funny, though, that my parents expect me to share this enormous box of goodies....

Oh, and my bonus treat over the weekend is that I've finally infiltrated ravelry! woo hoo! I'm in! I'll be spending the week checking it out... all I've had time to do so far is update my flickr.com account. But it looks rather interesting. I do advise that if you haven't yet signed up for ravelry, despite the waiting list being long, please do so!

The most exciting thing that I've got going on in my life at the moment is my ravelry.com waiting list status - which, wonderfully, I've moved quite far ahead in!

Found you!
You signed up on July 14, 2007
You are #16435 on the list.
1036 people are ahead of you in line.
17898 people are behind you in line.
44% of the list has been invited so far

Isn't my life exciting? Sucks to be one of the 17,898 people behind me.... Can't believe I've been waiting since July to discover the wonders of what is ravelry... looks like it's creeping up soon!

Oh, and for what it's worth... the Fall, 2007 issue of Interweave Knits has a few good articles about knitting green + an interesting article about cables, which I'm quite obsessed about atm in my knitting!

to all the fiber snobs out there...

Yes, this nothing more than a basic cable.

Yes, this is knit with 3 different kind of fuzzy or novelty yarn.

Yes, this has also been knit with (gasp!) acrylic yarn throughout, to give it a bit of weight.

Yes, this is a scarf no less, not a pair of itty bitty socks that don't stay up irrigardless of the amount of ribbing done.

And yes, it shall be worn in public, with pride, provided that weather gets cold this winter - unlike last winter.

woo hoo! first sale done on etsy!

I'm a bit happy that I had my first etsy sale over the weekend - two of my driftwood crochet hooks sold! I'm glad that etsy's starting to work out. I was a bit worried about sales both on etsy and ebay, but I think it has a lot to do with summer and knitting is not really a summer-themed activity. Now that summer (at least, summer vacation) is over, autumn sales are picking up.

There have been good advancements on ravery.... my update, to date:

You are #16435 on the list.
2768 people are ahead of you in line.
16924 people are behind you in line.
40% of the list has been invited so far

about me

just posting my questionnaire info in regards to the crochet swap :
My favorite colors: I tend to lean towards greens, blues, purples - but I like any colour outside of pastels, white,& black, unless it's part of a variegation.
My hobbies: reading, watching dvds, knitting crocheting
My kitchen theme & colors: I just renovated my kitchen, but haven't yet painted the walls! But what's there is cherry cabinetry, shades-of-brown floor tiles, and mossy greens-and-browns counter - so lots of earth tones
My bathroom theme & colors: also going to be renovated - they're too white. No colour ideas yet though
My dislikes: scratchy yarn, mohair, talk shows
My crafts..what I like: knitting and crocheting pretty much anything
My allergies: aspirin - not that it has anything to do with knitting, unless you send me aspirin-coated yarn
My favorite pets: I love all pets but I currently have a cat - fortunately she doesn't shed too much. My favourite animals are sheep & lizards.
My favorite scents: lemongrass, gingerbread, apple pie, vanilla, patchouli
Other stuff about me: I've just recently fallen in love with making cotton dishcloths. As far as knitting/crocheting errata, I like anything kitchy & 'designer' about the craft, such as decorated needles & hooks as well as the light-up needles & whatever other trinkets that make my fiber arts more fun to make; knitting/crochet magazines. As far as anything pop-culture-esque, I'm addicted to all 3 CSI shows, esp. the original one, all three Law & Order's, & LOST; Alfred Hitchcock movies, the original Twilight Zone, & Cillian Murphy.

drift wood crochet hooks

I've always loved nature and natural looking things, and wanted to incorporate nature somehow in my knitting or crocheting. In past years, I hadn't had much luck, until I was recently inspired by the idea of using drift wood sticks as crochet hooks. So, this past sunday, DH and I took a walk along one of the small beaches of Lake Ontario in Port Credit, and picked up a handful of sticks 10" and shorter.

Upon bringing them home, I soaked them in vinegar to get rid of whatever scoobies may be in the wood:
Then I nuked them in the microwave to spead up the drying process, and whatever dampness remained was dried on my window sill: (next to my faux jade Buddha) ...

And then afterwards, it was a matter of getting the hang of carving the crochet hook part (where a few had broken and were discarded) plus some sanding, painted designs on a few, and varnishing:

... once they're completely dry (the varnish takes 24 hours, so they're still a bit sticky) they'll be posted on etsy.com to sell.

mmm... pizza....

This is what happens when mindless hands, excessive acrylic yarn, and crochet hooks do when they come together:
I finally broke into the 4000 mark on the ravely waiting list:

You signed up on July 14, 2007
You are #16435 on the list.
4961 people are ahead of you in line.
14862 people are behind you in line.
36% of the list has been invited so far

I'm not sure what else to write about today. I've begun knitting my first pair of socks for christmas, my goal is to have at least 3 pairs done between now and the end of november to send to my parents and grandmother. Kind of make a dent in the box of sock yarn I have. Realistically, it may not get done, but who knows.

My kitchen renovations are practically done. The breakfast bar has to be finished, and the walls painted, some minor electrical work has to be completed, but otherwise, we're set. Cosidering that we've been doing this since April, I'm thankful of where we are right now.

Dealing with DirectBuy has not been easy - I know I haven't vented about this in my blog but it's just a whole messy ball of wax that I don't feel like getting into on here. Let's just say that it's gotten to the point where we've had to contact their head office and in the process of dealing with the Better Business Bureau. Oh, and we've currently had to go out of pocket $600 via DirectBuy due to their being absolutely impossible, and another $200 shopping @ Home Depot and Ikea to finish the last bits of the kitchen that should've been taken care of by DirectBuy. It's just madness. But I digress.

I'm looking forward to a weekend of vegging at home - yay!

prepping for december holidays

A friend of mine saved me this cartoon from the newspaper, I thought it was great - maybe a bit hard to read, sorry:
I'm also starting to prep for Christmas. My parents moved to France about a year and a half ago, and are currently living with my grandma near Avignon. I thought to maybe knit them socks, since they won't have much purpose for hats and scarves due to the warm weather! So, yesterday in the mail, they sent back this form that I asked them to fill out so I can start my sock-knitting for them...
I have it hanging on the fridge as my easy-to-find reminder ... hence the magnets...

experiments with camoflauge yarn

I figure that August/September is a good time to start knitting for winter - because it would suck being stuck in a snowstorm w/o anything hand knit to cozy in to!

I found some very soft Bernat yarn that's both thick and flecked with different sorts of camoflauge - so I started with this hat-scarf-wrist warmer set. It's a bit big on me, but I do have smaller-than-average hands and the hat can have a turn-up brim.

I stitched the whole thing in a thick-&-thin ribbing (K1, P1, K2, P1) which has become my favourite ribbing style to knit.

I'll have a few more camoflauge knits made up to put up on etsy (hopefully) in time for December holidays.