The Little Things

As promised, here is what came in the mail the other day! The second half of my birthday present from my mom. I saw this quilt in her LQS when I was home around the holidays and just thought it was so beautiful. Sure enough, I now have one sitting on my couch! Can you tell I love blues?! I know this will get lots of use and cuddle time over the years.. so thanks mom :) Oh, and you just have to look at the stitch detailing by clicking on the pictures. I love how the thread is variegated!




And speaking of the mail, I felt like Santa Claus on Thursday morning, when I headed to the post office and work with this HUGE Crate and Barrell bag filled with 36, yes, 36 packages. Scott and I were just laughing at the fact that I could hardly carry it since the bag is so long... Thank you to all who purchased some Sunshine Yarns on Tuesday! Looks like I need to get to dyeing up some more for next week!



And just a quick note for those Sockapalooza people out there... I FINALLY have my yarn for my sock pal. I dyed up this pretty little number on Monday and think she is going to love it! I've been putting off dyeing up yarn for her since I couldn't decide if I wanted to do a pattern with striping yarn, or something with a nice variegation. So, I just went with the variegation.. but still need to find a nice pattern.



If you are in Boston, have a wonderful Spring Day today! Woohoo!

1 Year Later

What a crazy year! I started blogging a year ago today :) I thought I missed the date, but low and behold, it was today that Knitting Sunshine began. Its amazing how far we all come over such a short amount of time. I mean, last year I was in a completely different place, both in life and in knitting. Right now life is busy as usual, but I can definitely say that I am happier overall. And what better way to celebrate 1 year, than a new pair of socks! I present to you my Jaywalkers in a lovely self-striping Regia colorway:



Project specs:
Pattern: Jaywalker Socks by Kathy and published online at Magknits
Yarn: Regia mini-ringel #5343
Measurements: Made to fit a women's US9. I did the smaller size but wish I did the bigger one since they are a bit tight :)
Started: January 31, 2006
Finished: March 28, 2006
Other Details: I magic looped it once again and love how these came out. Even though it was extra work cutting out the stripes for the heel and toe, I am happy I did because I think they look amazing with the solid sections. I also added an extra inch to the leg and, coincidentally, almost ran out of yarn (I had only a few inches left of gray for kitchener!)

And over at Sunshine Yarns you'll find lots of new things today. First off, Diana designed a new banner, button, tags, etc. for me and they are making their debut today! I also dyed up tons of a new superwash yarn for the striping colorways only and will have those up as well. For those Harry Potter fans out there, all four house colors are now available in the striping superwash yarn!

Phew. What a week! I think I dyed over 100 skeins between last Tuesday and yesterday. I'm tired! Tomorrow I have a special present to show you, as well as my new pair of socks!

Yesterday Morning

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours reskeining yarn that I had dyed on Sunday. For the first time ever, the store was completely empty last week! So, I chugged away on Sunday and even managed to have time for some new colorways :) Of course, Shamrock had to be one of them!



I think its funny, but everytime I attempt to do work at home, the kitties seem to want to snuggle or play. And, they want to get me involved. Here, you can all witness what happens:

Picture 1: Kali says, "Look how cute I am!"
Picture 2: Kali says, "Hmm, smells on your finger.. are you going behind my back and playing with some sheepies mommy?"
Picture 3: Kali thinks, "You're my mommy, lets wrestle and play!"
Picture 4: Kali thinks, "Hmm, I think I just realized mommy isn't a cat and can't wrestle with me like I want to... lets go find that sister of mine!"
Picture 5: Sister playtime begins.. Soma never seems to have the upper hand in a good roll-around, but here it looks like she is taking charge!
Picture 6: Nevermind, two minutes later, Soma seems to be on the bottom with her ears being gnawed on.





Oh, and yesterday I also basted in Scott's zipper successfully. No real ripples and it seemed to be perfectly flat... What am I doing today??!! TAKING IT OUT!!! After a discussion last night, we both thnk that the zipper really needs to be longer since it didn't quite make it to the top of the collar. So, I ordered two different colors from here and hopefully the problem will be solved soon. Stupid zippers....

I Wanna Fly

Since Scott's cardigan is blocking, I needed something new to work on. Behold, the cutest little airplane sweater EVER!!



For those that are interested, you can find this pattern in Mandarin Petit #0407.

Ready For Spring

I first want to thank everyone for all the birthday wishes last week! It really meant alot to me to have all my knitterly friends along for the ride :) So, thanks...

And, even though this last week has been crazy, I've managed to finish up a few things. I decided I had too much going on in my knitting basket, so nothing new until I completed some projects! First off, Backyard Leaves is DONE!!! This was a wonderful scarf to knit and I highly recommned it to anyone who has not used a chart pattern before. I see lots of people trying to start with massive shawls and mohair, and believe it just leads to problems most of the time. The great thing about this pattern is that is uses a smooth worsted weight yarn.. Aurora 8. I have to admit, this is my first time using Aurora 8, and I loved it! It shows the pattern so well and blocked out beautifully. I think my favorite thing about the yarn though was the color.. it is just the most amazing grass green ever. And when you have leaves, and spring coming along, how can you not choose green?!

My only issue with this pattern is when you have to seam the two identical pieces together after you block. My first cast on edge was a bit tighter than the second, and so it didn't look great. I reblocked the seamed area again, and it worked like magic...

Here are some pictures in the morning light:



And some on the hardwood:



Pattern: Backyard Leaves from Scarf Style
Yarn: Aurora 8 in the perfect shade of grass green (#716)
Measurements: 4.75" wide and 78" long after blocking
Started: January 20, 2006
Finished: March 6, 2006
Other Details: I didn't change anything in this pattern! The length is perfect and I absolutely love the edging. I am not so crazy about the seaming situation in the center, but I reblocked that section after I put it together and it helped tons!

Next up??? The zipper on Scott's cardigan.