Sea Anemone Knits

… a gift on your doorstep!

You thought I was gonna say Folger’s didn’t you??

Well, almost right on the coffee thing, but that’s a little further down.

As I opened my door to leave for work this morning, I about tripped over a box wedged up against my front door. It hadn’t been there last night when I got home from work. The work of fairies perhaps? Nah! More likely the work of one of my neighbors being nice and seeing that I had a package waiting forlornly outside the building. Nice neighbors! Least you think that this is just any ole package, let me show you this!

That my dear friends, is a moose. On my package, I have a moose. (snicker! I said package!) And I giggled like an idiot, dashed with the moose to my car and went to work. I was determined to make it home before I broke into my moose box. (Sorry for the overusage of the word moose. I love the way it sounds. Moose.)

I made it until lunch. With co-workers watching, I opened up lots of fun. Some of which I shared.

Bug did not get to sample the Chocolate Toffee Pistachios. But my co-workers did. We have all pronounced the pistachios as “Oddly delicious.” There may or may not be any left. Only we know.

The coffee part came into play here:

Upon opening, the most wonderful coffee scent issued forth. These are really good. And they taste like coffee. Seriously. Like. Coffee. Another “wow, that’s really good!” giftie.  These might have to go live back at the office to be consumed with coffee every morning. Because nothing says breakfast like coffee with coffee wafer cookies! Mom, you need to read this paragraph as “I eat a healthy banana and oatmeal every morning for breakfast.” ::innocently looks around and whistles::

The other part of my box contained a very pretty little jewelry box that upon opening, was found to contain more Mooses. I’ve now got moose buttons and a moose keychain specially made just for me. Lucky lucky lucky! I also received a lovely fan and a Tzi bead.

The bead is apparently made by Tibetan monks and used for prayer. I thought this was pretty cool. All in all, I’d say my SP has nailed my personality and did an absolutely fantastic job of putting things together for me. I loved everything I received and really, more than one comment was made about me going through my work day with a huge giggly grin on my face. We won’t pay attention to the fact that the comments usually consisted of the words ”Moose” and ”easily amused”.

Thank you SP!!!

I was a busy girl this weekend. And not with knitting as I should have been.

I had a new bed delivered and to my surprise, they showed up at 9am on Saturday. Normally I would have been awake and happy. This time I was hungover and not happy about having 5 seconds notice to throw on clothes.

(disclaimer: At the time, wearing the hat and glasses seemed like a good idea. So did taking a picture.)

But the guys got my new bed set up and since I was awake, I went ahead and made the bed with my new linens and was happy.

Then I walked in to find this:

This boy can shed the fur. You can so much as look at him and fur cascades off of him. It’s scary. This prompted a Sunday morning trip to Ikea. I figured that with a bed that was no longer sitting on the floor, I needed a bedside table and some kind of duvet cover to at least try to hide the black cat fur that will inevitably occur.

For a busy absolutely slammed Sunday morning (Are these people immune to St. Patrick’s Day/Green Beer hangovers??? I had been banking on green beer hangovers to make my trip painless.) I got in and out in almost an hour. I was pleased. But we all know that with Ikea, part of why its so cheap is that you put everything together yourself.

And so, with a lot of this:

and a little of this:

We eventually got to this:

Which led to this:

and will mean that I can now spend the rest of my afternoon doing this:

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I’m a natural fiber kinda girl. Although, if forced to chose, I adore wool. Nice soft sproingy wool…mmm

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

I keep all of my straight needles in an old white ceramic jug that I got at my grandparents house when we were cleaning it out and I keep my circulars in the case they came it (I have a set of the KP Options). I could use some kind of a needle roll for all of my dpns… I have a lot of the short dpns that I use for socks and such and they need a nice, neat, organized place to live.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

My grandma Laura taught me to knit when I was about 12. I’d consider myself advanced.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

No, not really. I’d love a good book on lace though. I don’t reallyhave a good reference for lace and I do enjoy knitting it. I love triangular shawls…they make me happy…

5. What’s your favorite scent?

I’m kinda “Meh…” about scents. I’m super picky… Sorry! I do like that brown sugar and fig that bath and body works carries though.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

Ha! Do I have a sweet tooth?? Does Willy Wonka have Oompa Loompas??? I can tear some cupcakes UP! There is a reason why I only bake on Thursday evenings and right after I walk in from work. That means I can save one or two aside for myself for later and pawn the rest off on the girls at my knitting group. Candy-wise? I  love hot tamales and Dots. mmm, movie candy… I know what I’m gonna be craving tomorrow - damn!

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I do spin, but not nearly as often as I should. I do a little cross stitch, but nothing here lately. I bake a LOT. See question #6…

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I like a little of everything. I’ve been really into blues and jazz lately and I’m always into peppy songs that make your feet twitch like you wanna get up and dance. Not too keen on country even though I love blue grass. (two totally distinct sounds there!)

9. What’s your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can’t stand?

I heart jewel tones and tweedy colors. Yep. I’ve been really into eggplants and teals and rusts lately. Mmm, delicious saturated colors… Good thing I will still have time to knit after this! I detest pastel and neon.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

I wear scarves and I wear fingerless gloves. Hats as a general rule are avoided because nothing looks worse than hat head on a curly girl and this fat girl does not wear ponchos. Yikes.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

I’m fond of lace and sweaters and now, I’m particularly fond of fair-isling.

13. What are you knitting right now?

A mate to my first Anemoi fingerless glove and a pair of stockinette socks.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Again, does Willy Wonka employ Oompa Loompas?? I love handmade gifts. Rarely get them though.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

I have a set of the KP options and LOVE them. Not too much to say about that one. Haha!

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

Yes I do - both as birthday gifts! Thanks to my mom for a winder and my papa gave me money that funded a swift.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

Currently, my oldest UFO is the socks that I’m working on. They were started the day before Thanksgiving of 2006. Haha! I finally got the list mostly taken care of! Wah-hoo!!

18. What is your favorite holiday?

Hands down, Thanksgiving. All the joy of Christmas (ie: family, friends and food) without the expense and stress of having to give gifts. What more can you ask for??

19. Is there anything that you collect?

I collect small faces. such as the Triplets of Belleville and their bastard brother James (seen here: ) My Mom and I have been collecting these faces for a couple of years now. We know when to get them when we see a small face sculpture and I can’t explain it but we just know them. Like James. My Mom and I looked at him and at the same moment said “James!” We just know them. You look at them and they have names already. Same thing happened with Red. Red lives at my Mom’s house though and I don’t have a picture of him. But she found him and was like, Oh, his name is “Red.” Brought him home and showed him to me and without knowing what she thought his name was, I was like, Mom, he looks like “Red”. Her boyfriend did the same thing. We kept him.

I also collect moose. I’ve got an awesome moose ornament and a moose crossing magnet. I like moose. Hee! What a word, moose!

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

I would love to try some Socks that Rock or Yarn Pirate. I also love laceweight yarns and triangular shawls. I’ve got subscriptions to IK Knits and Vogue Knitting.

21. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn?

I’d love to learn more about fair-isling. I’ve only done one project and I want to do MORE!! <insert slightly evil laugh here>

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

I am a sock knitter and I’ll do you a favor by not divulging my measurements. I wear a women’s US 10 shoe. If you still feel the need to know my foot measurements, ask and I’ll tell you.

23. When is your birthday?

I’m a LIBRA! Yeah baby!

Two posts in two days! I’m on a roll.

I decided to start Glee. I was really torn between Glee and the Equestrian Blazer, but a lot of that was that Jennifer voted for one and Laura voted for another. The tie breaker was that I already had a ball of yarn wound for Glee when I was trying to race out the door to the knitting group the other night. The ball of yarn was wound because I had previously tried to knit a cabled cardigan with the yarn.

It’s so nice and easy so far. It’s literally cascading off the needles. I’m hoping to be ready to separate the sleeves by the end of the weekend.

The way I figure it, I knit a massive Secret Project for Drew in a month and I can totally do a sweater in three weeks.

I’m off to watch Cold Mountain so that I can get some mindless knitting in and make good on my plan!

For about the past month, there has been a decided lack of knitting content. Mea Culpa. This is what happens when you do secret test knitting. Oh well. I’m sure everyone will live.

I will do my best to distract you with rambling and cute photos.

(See y’all?? I’m being petted. I OWN this blog.)

(That’s right. Keep focused now and this can be a pleasant experience - for me.)

(I am so the boss here.)

(OH! I know you did not just stop petting me!)

(Bitch, I will bite you.)

(Good save.)

In between switching dvds and knitting my little heart out on secret stuff (S.S.), I’ve been experiencing the above. I should be done with the S.S. by Thursday and have it all turned back over to Drew.

Which means that by Friday, I need to choose a knitting project. YIKES! There is soo much that I want to knit right now. The more I look at my newly super organized stash, the more things I can think of to knit with it. Because I am after all, participating in Knit From Your Stash 2007 and while I haven’t been buying yarn, I also haven’t been knitting from *my* stash.

Here are the current projects that are particularly piquing my interest.

Glee using Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in Claret

Cover sweater from Classic Knits using Bartlett Yarns 2 Ply in Lovat

Shetland Triangle using Knit Picks Shadow in Jewels Heather

Equestrian Blazer using Rowanspun Aran in Caviar

Kitty Dim Sum using some vintage tan colored tapestry wool that my Grandma gave me back in January when I went to visit her.

What should I knit next? Cast your votes!

Until then,

(That’s right. I own her.)