I'm feeling Ug'ish

I was at working at my LYS the other day and saw the cutest shop sample, a pair of slipper shoes. I've never made a pair before so I figured, why not?

I bought me the dark soles, and dug into my stash for some soft and luscious Malabrigo Worsted in color 259 Charrua, of which I purchased years ago at Imagiknit in S.F. Great yarn, one of my faves, and I do love the color combo. I pretty love any color paired with brown.

Check out this warm squishy "Ugz" as my hubby calls them.











I've added some WIP photo's too on my project page on Ravelry. I knitted these so fast that I almost completely forgot to take pics.

A few things I'll share over the course of the next few days are the following projects:

Plein Air Tote - Interweave Knits Fall 2010
Fall Pumpkin - Kit purchased at Green Planet Yarn
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mystere
A Little Karma - Custom Knits book
Lutz & Patmos - Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2010
Leitmotif Cardigan - Interweave Knits Fall 2010

Happy Monday All!

-Rocky

Gift Knitting

I went to visit my former hometown, Newman, this weekend where my cousin Tura and his family still live. I didn't get a chance to visit during Easter, so this was a long needed trip. I had bought a cute brown/biege short outfit formy Godson Andrew, which I might get to see him in next weekend! For my little couse Alyssa, I decided to knit her a headband late Friday night, about 10 p.m. I quickly searched Ravelry for a child's headband pattern, and went with Nora. I found some real pretty "Little Lovely" Malabrigo Chunky in my stash, and it was perfect! I had to adjust my needle size since the pattern isn't knitted with chunky weight yarn. I went with a US3 needle, and it worked out perfect. I had it finished by the time we got to the house the morning on Saturday.


Here are my pics!







And look at her smile! She loves pink!



Another gift I'm almost done with, here's some quick pics:





I don't want to say too much about this because it's a surprise, but I'm really excited to get to the finishing portion, it will really take shape then.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!
R

Current Events (**Malabrigo Alert**)

Woolgirl Sock Club "August 08"


Originally uploaded by RockyMoreno

What can I say, I heart WOOLGIRL!



Saturday I received my August installment from the Woolgirl Sock Club, and it's just wonderful! Check out the big bag! This is perfect for large WIP's or just many smaller WIPs. See that baggy of goodies? It has the cutest rubber erasers shaped like sandals! I so will not use these, I'll have to place them on my shelf in my office to display. I just love the clever packaging, the way the skein of yarn was stored in the cute orange water bottle. The yarn is just refreshing and pretty, it isn't a colorway I would choose, but it is one that I like alot, which is a perk of joining a yarn club, I think it allows you to broaden your yarn color choices.





Plus.... SQUEE!!!!..... I got an email from Jenn letting me know that I won the "Georgia O'Keefe" Contest from the Woolgirl Sock Club. Not only did I win, I won 1st place! That's 3 skeins of the soft Mama Llama sock yarn of my choice coming my way. Getting my club package, and then finding this out, was just too good; it was kind of like a late bday present.



For the "Georgia O'Keefe" contest, we had to write a post of our favorite Georgia painting. She has such a beautiful collection of art, I just couldn't settle on just one painting, so I did one post with a few different paintings, with a quote of why I like each one. Here is the one that scored me the 1st prize.



My quote for this was:
"Jack in the Pulpit IV"
Rich dark petals bring a feeling of comfort & security...soft blue center of fire reminds me that my sole is strong.
~Yo me siento vivo/I feel alive~

To see my full post, click here.

For my Mama Llama Sock Yarn, I choose these colorways:
Fall Leaves

Venice

Forest



And now onto other events, when I was GPY the other week, I found out from Beth (GPY owner) that they were to start a "Tech Square Afghan" Knit Along, starting 8/17/08. I quickly signed up, because the knit along is not like any other knit along. The Tech Square Afghan really is a unique experience. In this Afghan alone, you'll learn almost every technique under the sun. Techniques are: Entrelac, Intrasia, Provisional Cast-Ons, Seaming, Cabling, Increasing, Decreasing, Half-Hitch Increases, Double Decreases, Mattress Stitch, Circular Knitting, Knitted Cord, Traveling Stitches, Sewing, Waste Yarn Opening, Pockets, Embellishments, Steeking, Hemming, Duplicate Stitch, and much more. It really is a great project. I'll take some pictures of my WIP to show where I'm at in the Afghan, here's a look at the completed Afghan from the book.


**Malabrigo Alert**
I came across a thread on Ravelry, and the wonderful Gonzo, gave a link to a shop in Germany that is well stocked with the coveted Malabrigo Sock Yarn!!! YES ITS TRUE! All you need to do is choose your colors, send an email to bestellungATjuergenweidnerDOTde, they'll process the order for you via PayPal. The online store is Juergenweidner...it's all in German, to translate, use the Free Translation website.

Last, but not least are both the Ravelympics and Yarnsmackdown Events I'm in. I'm sorry to say but I'm just falling behind on my Ravelympics. I'm so upset. Yarnsmackdown has just eaten up my time. And Sock Wars III is still on, but now it's just getting old to me. I've been in this competition for months, killed 4 so far, just received a cake of Mountain Colors sock yarn from my previous target, but really have no desire to cast on another pair of Sock Wars Detonation socks. I've knit so many socks, not just for Sock Wars, that I'm just UGHHH! about it now. I've now decided that both Sock Wars & Yarnsmackdown are going to the bottom of my list, and from today on I'll be focusing on the Ravelympics, the Tech Square Afghan and Secret of the Stole III. I will say that I managed to score some points in Yarnsmackdown, killing with 2 Diamond Lace bookmarks, 1 pair of Starry Starry Nights socks, 1 Avocado w/Dollup of Sour Cream Toast, and 1 set of Diamond Lace Dishcloths = 10 points!

Things happen fast!

I've been out of work since the beginning of May 2008, a result of a merger with my former company, left my former work headquarters obsolete, thus everyone was out of a job. On one hand it was nice to get a break after 7 years of service, on the other hand, I would've liked to have been able to keep my $$ from my monetary packages I received, but it didn't quite work out that way. I've been actively searching for work, been on many phone interviews, on-site interviews, questionnaires, etc., I've been doing it. Each time coming oh close to landing a job, but never actually panning out in the end.

Early last week I got contacted by an agency for a 3 month contract job, with strong possibility for extension and/or permanent status, and was told the job could literally be needed the next day. I was eager and ready, I really hate not having a purpose everyday, although I really forged ahead in the knitting/fiber adventures 8-)...anyways, I got a call the next day from the agency to find out that another agency beat them out, thus I being their candidate was A** out. And I thought I was going to have something to celebrate for 4th of July.

This was the Wednesday before the 4th, then late Thursday, Kathleen from the agency calls to tell me everything fell through with the other company, and turns out they'd like to meet me, but since the next day was the 4th, they felt sometime this week would work. So, I had alot to look forward to over this holiday weekend. Plus, the job was almost right in my back yard, Palo Alto, only about 30 minutes from my home.

On Monday, I felt that I would sleep in for a bit, until about 9:30 a.m., usually I get right up with my husband and never go back to sleep. So I set my cell phone timer, and in the middle of my dreams, I kept hearing my phone vibrate. I have a Blackberry, so I kept thinking, who's emailing me? I check it out and it's Kathleen to tell me that the company would like to meet me before noon! I rushed, got ready, and was on-site for an interview at 10:30 a.m. sharp. The interview went good, and I was told I would hear something soon.

Now, I can tell you, I've been through my share of these types of interviews, I feel there the worst because everything goes good, but yet you never hear anything? So Monday is over, Tuesday comes, and about 9:30 a.m., I get a call, they want to hire me and asked if I could start same day! I'm happy, yet annoyed because I'd like to be prepared. After it all, I made it for my first day of work, noon sharp on Tuesday. Today, was my official first full day of work, and the IT Lead for the site I'm supporting is going on vacation for a week starting Friday, which leaves Lil'O me for a week on my own after only being on board for 2 1/2 days. It's a nice biotech company, and the people are nice too. I'm liking it and only hope that I can handle the job solo while Bob (my co-worker) is out on vacation.

With all this going on, my knitting has taken a back seat for the first time in a long time....but I had the best presents waiting for me at home, courtesy of my local Mail Man. My VillageSpinWeave order for my Large Umbrella Swift & Ball Winder, arrived!!! I love these! So awesome! There are many projects that have been deterred because I didn't have a winder to make a yarn cake out of my skeins. I didn't care how hot I was, I set everything up, and picked up the Black Malabrigo skein, destined to be a beanie for my husband, and started winding! I purposely bought the Large Umbrella Swift for my frequent purchases of those large skeins. I took some pics of my new tools, and I know there a good investment for a yarnaholic like me. And I'll listen to Marisol good advice and not get "yarn cake" happy. 8-) I can't say which is prettier, the skein or yarn cake form? What do you prefer?? Why? I'd love to hear?

Stay cool everyone...literally!

~~Rocky