Look at all those goodies, and do you see that Frankenstein stitch marker made by Wee Ones? Totally cute. The yarn colors are cool and perfect for Franken Socks. It’s 1 skein of Mis Babs Superwash Merino 100% wool, hand-painted yarn in colorway “Yummy” with accompanying color for the heel, 133 yds.

Here’s a few more pics of the goodies:

Another package, though it was a surprise, was my “Love Bites 2″ Swap package received from my secret swapper, Mollie Bug on Ravelry.

Mollie Bug on Ravelry by RockyMoreno, on Flickr”>

She included the cutest “Edward” Amigurumi pattern! I gotta make this guy, then I’ll have Edward all to myself *-) She also included local yarn from her area, Virginia, from Indy-dyer David Simpson. It is just gorgeous! 490 yards of 100% Kona Superwash Merino in Fingering weight, colorway “Burress”.

And look at this Bella hat, so pretty! And I love the black tweed color, fits perfect and definitely a knit to wear. I faved this on Ravelry not long ago, and she found my fave to make. I’m still gona make one, but I just love hers.

And, the cutest Twilight stitch markers! Check these out!

Phew, so much good stuff!!! A big thank you to Mollie Bug!

Ok a new venture I’m taking on lately, knitting jewelry. I’m trying recreate a gorgeous bracelet I received from Gherkin on Ravelry. So far, so good, check out my progress:

It doesn’t look like much yet, but when I’m done I’ll form the beads to look sit nice and then add the clasp to close it. See the original, to the right?

I have so much more to share in the coming days, I’m now in high-gear for swaps, KALs, Fall knitting and yes, GIFT knitting

Hope everything is going spooky well!

~Rocky

Remember this lovely bag?

I love this bag, she made it just for Lil’O me 8-), in fact she now offers them for sell on her site, she aptly named it “Rocka-ma-bag”! I love the tatoo’ish fabric, and requested a custom item from her Etsy site the other week for a Iphone cell phone case she has for sale, but since I’m a Blackberry girl, I asked for one that fits a Blackberry, in no other than my fave tatoo’ish fabric.

And she made whipped it up in no time and shipped it to me ASAP! I love it! It is now permanently attached to my Bella bag from Jordana. Funny, Bella, it’s also the name of the lead female character in Twilight, kind of odd that name would mean so much to me now when I knew nothing of “Bella” when I purchased my Bella bag at the Stitches West 2008 conference. Isn’t odd how one thing can mean something to you in one way at one point in time and then later on have a totally different meaning? Odd….

Enough digressing, here are some snapshots of my custom BB case.

Now you should know what my title means, it is little but definitely counts! I love it. A BIG thank you to my friend CHERYL!!! You Rock girl!

And onto a new WIP, real new, hot off the needles yesterday. I can’t say the name of the pattern or who it’s for, I can’t ruin the surprise, but I will say it is a handbag and it is my first time working with pleats, but it’s pretty much the same as cables or is cables, but knit somewhat differently. I picked this color because I know my spoilee likes neutrals, as I do, and this dark rich brown is luscious! The yarn is again a constant in my knitting stash, Blue Sky Alpaca 100% Organic Cotton. I’ve knitted with various weights of this yarn and I love it. It’s easy to knit and very soft, and it won’t felt, which is awesome in case it needs a good wash.

Here’s a peek at the handbag, though it’s about 40% done, it doesn’t yet look like much, but I can’t wait to see the final product. I need to go pick me up some 9 16′ cause the 24′’s circs aren’t working out. I should be able to pick some up this weekend and have a spoilee FO to show off Sunday!

See that “Love Bites” stitch marker??? It’s a gift from my spoiler for Love Bites, a heart with a band-aid, too cute!

And see that Golden Retriever stitch marker? So cute, from my other spoiler Minerva Wood a.k.a. Yogaknot. I’ve participated in so many swaps that I’ve been so lucky to have such wonderful spoilers who get me the cutest things.

More soon

She put such a great package together, I just have to share this with you.

Can you see all the great stuff?

-6 skeins of Knit Picks wool in Red (hmm…soft)
-A full set of personalized stationery set with “R” as the logo (I love!)
-A quill pen set (this is so cool, I’ve been wanting one of these!)
-2 packages of natural buttons in animal and leaf shapes (so pretty!)
-Hogwarts logo type buttons (very nice!)
-US 9 Hiya Hiya needles (I love these!)
-Clover stitch markers & needle protectors & flower pins (a need!)
-Printed copy of “Brea” Bag by Norah Gaughan (so pretty!)
-The cute lion scissors (I’m a Lioness at heart!)
-HP stickers (the kid in me loves these)
-A skull patch (too cool, it reminds me of ED HARDY, one of my fave designers)
-Twilight Ghiradelli bar (YUM-O!) with Dove Dark & Milk Chocolate goodies
-2 Wee One’s “Golden Retriever” stitch markers (OMG, these are too precious!)
-Handknit by Minerva herself, the “Fashion Cable Knit Bag” with the most gorgeous handles (I’m totally in love with this bag, and it matches the hat she knit for me for the Hogwart’s Swap, hat pattern was Jared Flood’s “Habitat”

I can’t express enough gratitude to Minerva for being the most excellent swapper.

I have received 2 completed Traveling Scarves groups this week, both are beautiful.

First is my SO’s scarf, all in really nice black and gray colors.

To all the gals from my TS#25 SO group, THANK YOU MUCH FOR adding your wonderful knitting to my SO scarf!

Next is my NORO scarf

It is so pretty, and I love all the different NORO additions. THANK YOU TO all the members of the TS#37 NORO group, I really really enjoyed Mod’ing the group. It’s been a pleasure and I’m sad to see it coming to an end. Everyone is getting their scarves in the mail soon, I was lucky enough to get mine’s last week.

And now for a Knitter who can really put a package together! This is my package for my Harry Potter – A little bit of everything swap. It comes from the wonderul Minerva Wood.

She knitted me “Habitat” from Jared Flood, my absolute favorite designer. I love the red and the pattern. Everything in the package was perfect, and I got goodies for my dog and cat too, which they’ve loved playing with.

THANK YOU Minerva a.k.a. Yogaknot on Ravelry.

~R

Well, this past Thursday, I kept thinking “I gotta get started on my Leyburns”, and I finally did. The purpose of the KAL is to have everyone participating in it knit in Socks that Rock yarn only, and in any colorway, hoping to get as many different colorways knitted up for the “Leyburn” sock pattern by Mintyfresh. It has a lattice pattern look, similar to the lattice you would see going across the top of some fenced homes.

I casted on Thursday evening, got the toe and foot started, and contined a teeny bit Friday, but not really, and the on Saturday, kind of did nothing. That is until later in the evening when I finished up other tasks I had to do, and I turned the heel, and started the leg. I was all fine to keep on knitting, but I was tired from cleaning and other random tasks I finished during the day, so I put my sock down.

Come Sunday morning, and I was flying along, like my heading says “The Rhythm in the needles”, and it certainly was. I had memorized the pattern and was knitting “blindly”. I finished my first sock by mid-morning, even weaved in the ends. The pattern really looks very nice in the Dragondance colorway, and wouldn’t yah know it, it’s the perfect color for Valentine’s Day!

Here’s how it started, TOE UP, my fave way now:

And then voila, I got one down and another one about 50% of the way done!

I quickly casted on for the 2nd sock, but had to put it down to take Rosie, my doggy, to the doggy park to play with other dogs. My hubby and I left and visited a dog park in North San Jose, one we hadn’t been to before, but it was perfect. Wide open, a bit smaller than a football field, with benches and chairs to sit. Rosie had a great time, she runs like a race horse and we call her Sea Biscuit when she runs like that. Golden Retrievers have amazing speed and agility, it’s really neat to see them in full stride. She was a good girl, and got along with all the other dogs, who all were behaved very well. Here, she’s resting, after having stole a tennis ball from another dog.

Oh, and she made plenty of friends, including this little guy who just wouldn’t stop following her around

When we arrived back home, I started working on finishing the toe, and again, the rhythm took over, and I stopped at the leg portion, which I’ll work on tomorrow. I should get these done by Tuesday, I’m giving myself some slack for working *-)

Now, I need to get my beauty sleep, work again tomorrow! And rain is in the forecast, which means I can bulk up with some of my knits, which I love!

I improvised this pattern, used chunky yarn, and knitted this pouch up. The entire thing was knitted and crocheted from the same strand of working yarn, not once did I break to continue elsewhere, I figured out the best way to seam it up and add the crocheted embellishments plus the crocheted chained straps. I casted on just before the Superbowl yesterday, and finished up by the end of the game. The only part that wasn’t in the “2 hour” timeframe was the Golden Snitch emblem on the front, which I just crocheted a circle and then added wings, again improvisation on this. I’m just a beginner at crochet, but I can feel my skills gaining speed. I’m most proud of 2 things for this project 1) That I was able to knit & crochet the entire pouch from one working strand of yarn and 2) That I created something out of crochet that turned out so cute.

I don’t have a name for it, and I’ll put a pattern up on Ravelry for free if anyone wants it, just let me know

I hope my Professor Madam Jak likes my homework **crosses fingers**

And onto other fun news, here are some snapshots of my Swallowtail, yes, still on the Budding Lace, I just need to dedicate more time to it, but it is turning out so pretty.

I need to get busy on this, ooh, and guess who I found snoozing beside my bed…

Oops! I disturbed her sleep! Bad Mommy!

Darn, scared her away!

She has a look like she’s thinking about what to do, and yep, I did scare her away, “Bright Light” as Gizmo says!

More to come tomorrow Happy Monday!

Late Saturday night my hubby’s cell phone rang, we weren’t in the mood to answer, so we let it go to voicemail. The next morning, about 6:00 a.m., we awoke, and enjoyed our morning relaxing in bed watching Howard Stern shows (yes a guilty pleasure of ours). At about 7:30 a.m., my hubby decided to check his voicemail, but before he could, the phone rang and it wasn’t good news. Apparantly, my Mother-in-Law’s husband, Ed, died Saturday night. The cause is not known yet, but based off of the description of how he was found and the position his body was in, it appears to be a heart attack or unfortunately drugs. I won’t be around the bush, my hubby’s Mother, I love her, and we get along like best friends, but she’s made her own choices in the last 10 or so years, so it’s been not that often we talk to her. We love her dearly, and her husband isn’t my husband’s Father nor was he ever considered a Step-Father by my hubby. It’s a troubled past, but an unfortunate end. We spent a portion of our morning checking on my husband’s little sister, she’s about 18 years, but slow, so she’s special, and visiting with my hubby’s Grandma. To make this more unfortunate, his Mother wasn’t around to know her husband died, she’s at the moment “taking a vacation”, which will hopefully end come tomorrow. I think most of us have that part of the family that just seems to have troubles. So that was our morning, by noon, we tried to shrug off the sadness and get ready for our little get together, but amidst all this, all I could think of was “I could never handle losing my husband, he’s my life, literally, he’s all that I cherish, him and my kids”, when things like this happen, it makes you stop and think. I’m so thankful to have to him here with me and I pray that God allows us to be with each other until were 90 years old.

Once things got going for the BBQ, our moods lightened, we had a few drinks that did help, and got into the game. I was rooting for Arizona, because I didn’t want Pittsburgh to win a 6th ring, but in the end, Arizona just couldn’t hold onto the lead, and Pittsburgh won. It was a rookie defense that needed to hold their ground until the play clock expired, but they didn’t and allowed Pittsburgh to score the winning touchdown. A slow starter game, but a good ending one, I did enjoy it regardless of the outcome.

In other swappy news, I received 2 great packages from 2 different spoilers in 2 different swap groups I’m in on Ravelry.

First off, my “Rubberswap Redux” swap, apart of the RR group on Ravelry. This is from AngelaRae, and I love everything in it.

–1lb of fresh 100% Fair Trade coffee from Planet Bean
I love this, and made a fresh brew this morning, very smooth and tasteful!
–1 bottle of real Canadian Maple Syrup
hmm… I’m thinking freshly homemade waffles next weekend!
–1 pure beeswax pinecone
This smells so fresh and is hanging in my office, it’s smells so nice now, it cleans out impurities in the air
–3 packages of Origami papers, for making different fishes, dinosaurs, and animals
My hubby and I already made 2 fishees
–1 bar of handmade soap in the shape of a sheep face?
I love this, smells awesome, AngelaRae can you share the store for this? I’d love to get some more
–1 pair of green earrings
Very pretty
–1 skein of 50% mohair, 50% merino in “disagreen” colorway
Very soft and a very gorgeous disagreen color
–A lovely card with a picture of the oldest church in Guelph
I love the story behind this, it’s a church believed to have a vortex in it that pulls people to Guelph, I love that type of stuff!

I can’t thank AngelaRae enough!

Onto my lovely “Love Bites” swap package from the group on Ravelry, this comes from Gherkin who is just an awesome spoiler.

-I received the most luscious fiber, 100% Imported British BFL, this is to die for, a full 6.7 ounces!
-3 cute white knitted sponges
-A cute decorative box
-The cutest knitted Vampire Heart that had a label “Careful he’s a biter!”, so cute!
-Custom Love Bites Stitch markers, one is heart with a bandaid, soo cute! Gherkin had these custom made by ScaryMerry on Etsy, you’ll have to check these out.
-The prettiest and coolest hand made bracelet by Gherkin herself, check out her wonderful Etsy shop
-A knitted/felted Skull keychain, this was so thoughtful of Gherkin knowing that my spoilee from my previous Day of the Dead swap flaked, she knitted/felted me the skull in honor of that swap
-Yummy chocolates & Valentine’s stickers
-And the funnest “pull me” yarn ball with a prize in the middle, can I say the yarn scraps from this ball are so nice, I think I can knit a a small pouch out of it, and inside was 2 cute magnets!
-Ooh and a 50% off coupon for Gherkin’s Bucket.

Such great packages I received, I couldn’t be more thankful. I have some other projects I’m working on, I’ll share soon. I need to get a bit more headway on before I share, and also I’ll need to provide some updates on my Swallowtail, which sadly has been moving slowly because of so many other things I’ve been working on. But I swear it will get done in order to show off at Stitches!

Hope you all had a good weekend, and now for the grown-up stuff, work 8)… I’ll post tomorrow.

All ghosts need to be accounted for here at Hogwarts, so I’ll try to call all of them out, here we go:

–Nearly Headless Nick, or Sir Nicholas, my favorite
–The Bloody Baron of Slytherin
–Moaning Myrtle of the Girls Bathroom
–The Grey Lady of Raveclaw
–Professor Bins
–Fat Friar of Hufflepuff
–All those attending the Deathparty
–Sir Patrick Delaney Podmore
–The Wailing Widow
–Harry’s Parents, they are ghosts technically

I’m sure I left out some, but this is the best list I could put together. Let’s see who shows up!

~~Lady Arabella Carmichael of Gryffindor

Arithmancy is another area of magic, specifically revolving around the magical properties of numbers. It is said that the vast numerical charts if calculated correctly can predict the future. This is not only a subject envisioned by J.K. Rowlings but was practiced by Ancient Greeks. The name derives from two greek words, arithmos and manteia. Arithmancy is a very interesting subject, but not one easily learned or easily understood.

Hermione practices Arithmancy, but Harry and Ron don’t, and I believe that makes Hermione one of the strongest muggles at Hogwarts. She is one of my favorite characters, one who really appreciates the craft of magic.

For a quick glimpse into Arithmancy, let’s see what my name means:

My name is Raquel

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
A B C D E F G H I
J K L M N O P Q R
S T U V W X Y Z

The values of my name are

918353

Add them up to get 29

Add again to get to a value lesser than or equal to 9 11

And again to get 2

So who am I?

This is what 2 means:

Two represents interaction, two-way communication, cooperation, and balance. Twos are imaginative, creative, and sweet natured. Peace, harmony, commitment, loyalty, and fairness are characteristic. But two also introduces the idea of conflict, opposing forces, and the contrasting sides of things: night and day, good and evil. Twos can be withdrawn, moody, self-conscious and indecisive.

I can say that it’s a pretty good match on who I am, you tell me? Those of you who know me, the good side hee hee, is this me?

~~Lady Arabella Carmichael of Gryffindor