Podcast 4: Holiday GiftTastic!!

Took a while longer than I thought, but it's DONE! Hope you like the pics of my BEAU-TI-FUL "Molly McArdle" and the gorgeous Yarn Botanika yarns. Check out the sidebar for regular Podcast Sponsors and Related Links. Let me know what you think!

Happy Knitting!

Gina : )


PICS:

It's MOLLY!!!



And her BLOOMERS!



The fantastic yarns I got from YB:



LINKS:

North East Fiber Arts Center (5 chocolate kisses)

Kaleidescope Yarns (3 chocolate kisses)

Patternworks

Purl Soho

Nichole

Jackie

KPixie

Knitty's Fetching Mitts

MUSIC:

*Bubble's "Christmas Here on Mars"

*Joel Kopischke's "A Harry Potter Christmas"

*Cookie Cutter Girl's "Ham for the Holidays"

*Charlie Crowe's "Joy-Kinda Holiday-ish"

*The Usual Thing's "Game On" (beginning music)

2 Candy Houses for 2 Creative Houses

Wow...I'm finally back "geeking" (as Ian would say) and was debating whether or not to blog so close to when the new podcast is coming out (Friday morning). BUT, I have SO much to say, (some of which will be repeated on the podcast...some new) that I thought I'd better blog....some.

I don't know about you, but I was actually a little relieved and felt a little "freer" not having to blog or podcast...not that I dislike it...(I love both)...but it was such a nice, relaxing change from the usual. I breathed in fresh air, looked at the sky, took some walks, went to the playground with the kids and TALKED to people. I feel like the laptop begins to become a one way "blabbbing machine" and I almost forget that, when I'm having a conversation with someone, they will want to TALK BACK to me! LOL!

So, here are some new things I've done lately...I won't get into too much detail...I still want all of you to download the podcast and not be, like, "I already KNEW that!"

-Went to Laurin's Gingerbread House party and had a super time, as usual....this is a tradition every year that Tim and I look forward to. Here we are looking silly and/or happy with our candy houses.





-Spun some fiber (Ashford Corriedale plied with Merino/sparkle) into 2 ply sportweight yarn to make this: (you can't tell how gorgeous and sparkly this is...believe me...it's so awesome)



-Knitted up the bunny pattern from HERE for Tim...out of one skein of 100% white angora sportweight yarn. Isn't she cute???



and look at this face...



-I knit a scarf (using leftover avocado green Manos) for my ceramic sheep (I think I already told you this, but here's the pic).



-And lastly, the STR GIGANTO package arrived with yummy, yummy yarns...



and more...



Boy, I was lucky this week! I'm also almost done with the body of Tim's sweater, at the gusset of the last sock for my Grandma and finshed the dolly...Molly McArdle. I wanted to show pics here, but I'm going to make you all wait...heh heh heh. I need something to show for Friday! Fly, fingers, fly!

Heading out to A Knitter's Garden tomorrow night for knitting and bringing the winner of the "Sleepy Eyes Needs Wuv, too" Contest,

NICHOLE!!!

her mega yarn haul, magazines and chocolate. (Plus, she ordered the Rocktober STR and I guess I'll have to give that to her!)

Darn it.

Check out Friday's podcast!

(oh, and it's not too late to send in gift suggestions or jokes if you have them...Thursday morning will be the deadline)

Happy Knitting!

Happy Thanksknitting...or The List of Five!

Been very neglectful of my blog lately....and no new podcast until next week...boo hoo. Life has taken me on a whirlwind ride this past week:

1. husband away with friends all weekend.... (arrrghhh!)
2. much laundry and a couple of toilets to clean.... (ewww)
3. bills to pay... (ugh)
4. very little progress on Tim's "supposed" done-before-Thanksgiving sweater....(sniffle)
5. nasty sinus infection with headache that could kill the Terminator...(AHHHHHH!)

BUT, I did manage to get a few things done since last time I blogged: (with pictures next blog...sorry...I'm SO tired right now)

1. Knitted a scarf for the ceramic sheep, Norland, in my dining room in a beautiful deep green Manos...(pretty!)
2. Knitted that bunny out of one 6 inch square of stockinette, using white angora....(ooohhh!)
3. Knitted the adorable, fun-as-all-hell doll from Cottage Creations (more details to come) who named herself, Miss Molly McArdle.....(sooo cute!)
4. Did half of my Christmas shopping Monday night....(woo-hoo!)
5. Started one of my own new designs for Yarn Botanika and One Planet Yarn and Fiber

Soo.....I guess everything evens out right?

Before I go (heading out to VT and many, many hours of driving with the kiddies and hubby), I want to list five things I'm grateful for "in terms of knitting":

1. Knit Picks needles and yarn
2. Lovely soft angora yarn and fiber
3. Time to knit and spin
4. My new knitting and blogging friends and the ManchVegas group
5. The feeling of finishing a sweater and having my husband say to me, "I was starting to feel too hot in it at work, but I just couldn't take it off!"...and then wearing it even to bed at night. Now, THAT's something to be grateful for!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! (Next podcast will be next week....called Holiday Knit-Tastic!)

Podcast 3: November Nights

Good Morning, Sweet and Sassy Knitters!

It's up! The newest podcast! See sidebar for direct link or click on any one of the Podcast Links below to download....

-You'll hear about Ian's blue SWEATER and how I decided to finish it:



-You'll hear about cool new gift ideas for knitters and a request for more ideas...

-You'll hear about the silky, soft Plymouth Baby Alpaca:



Hope you enjoy listening!

SPONSORS:

Sereknity Boutique

Mystical Vibes

One Planet Yarn and Fiber (website coming soon!!!)

MUSIC:

The Usual Things's "Game On" (beginning music)

Compl33T's "November"

Elena's "All Night"

LINKS:

White Lies Designs Lingerie

Lantern Moon Needles

Abacus

Plymouth Baby Alpaca

Sereknity Boutique

Yarn Botanika

Nichole

Denise's Stitch Markers

Lora

Ericka (look for her Sleepy Eyes Drinking Game and Drink recipes!)

Jackie

Laurin


PODCAST WEBSITES:

Podshow Podsafe Network

iTunes

Podcast Alley

Podcast Pickle

Pod-Planet (this website is slightly flaky and doesn't always work)

Hope you enjoy this week's podcast and please excuse my stuffy nose....getting over a cold, you see. Oh, and if you tried to download my podcast before this morning, I had a very quiet version up on my website...so I fixed it and it should be fine. Let me know if it isn't. THANKS!!!

Happy Knitting and SUPER DUPER THANKS to all who listen, leave me comments, send me emails/ideas and give me support. You're all WONDERFUL!!!

Gina : )

I'm Short...AGAIN!

No, I'm not talking about my height....although this is a topic Ian LOVES to talk about daily (or sometimes, to my utter frustration, hourly!)...my short-ness, I mean...(yes, I'm only 5'1...maybe 5'2" after yoga), but...no...it's about my SWEATER...or, in fact, Ian's SWEATER.

Today, I found myself faced with this:



Yes....it's looks nice...the sweater LOOKS done, doesn't it? Nice & thick, lanolin-y, 100% wool, great pattern, quick knit and very handsome color...cornflower, I think.

But, look CLOSER....



Yes, you ARE seeing correctly. The last arm is not QUITE done....I am less than 5 rounds (with very few stitches per round) away from completion. This is most certainly NOT "ribbed for her pleasure"...that's for sure! (5 ribbed rounds, my ass!)

Wanna see something else? (god, it's horrifying)...



THIS is the amount of yarn I have left over. About 6 inches. W....T....F?????!!!!!

Now, if you know me, you know that this is not very surprising....I am CONSTANTLY running out of yarn for projects. Constantly. (we will not rehash the "Booga Bag" incident, will we? Need I mention this....Donna, Laurin, or Ericka? Ugh.

Sooooo....my question to myself was...what are my options?

A. Rip out 1/2 the stitches from the other sleeve...thereby making both ribbed edges the same length, but also giving me extra yarn to do both.

B. Rip out some of the bottom of the sweater ribbing to add to the ribbed sleeve edge.

C. Rip out the WHOLE DAMN sweater and chaulk it up as a learning experience (kinda drastic)

D. Leave it shorter than the other...it's only 1 inch, right?

E. Go buy another skein of yarn from Joanne's "A Knitter's Garden" shop tomorrow.

NOW...my question to all of you wonderful, sweet knitters is....


WHAT DID I DO???????



P.S. (winner announced on this week's podcast)

"Sleepy Eyes Needs WUV, too" CONTEST!!!

So sorry for the delay in hearing the new podcast. Ugh...it's hard having your domain hosting company in Singapore! At least it's back up and working now. Woo-hoo! You can click on the right and listen to Episode #2: The Drinking Game. Also, check out Ericka's Blog for a new drink recipe that will go along with the podcasts. This week's is Sex on the Beach....yum!

Okay, you lovely, lovely knitters....here are the rules for the contest to win THIS STASH!!!



1. 1 Cherry Tree Hill Supersock: 100% superwash fingering merino, 370 yards, Green Mountain Madness colorway.

2. 1 Knit Picks Andean Treaure: 100% baby alpaca, 110 yards, Peach colorway.

3. 1 Knit Picks Palette: 100% Peruvian Wool, 231 yards, Fawn colorway.

4. 1 Plymouth Sockotta: 45% cotton, 40% superwash wool, 15% nylon, 414 yards, #5612 colorway.

5. 2 Classic Elite Tinsel: 93% nylon, 7% polyester, 70 yards, #7489 pink colorway.

6. 1 Schaefer Elaine: 100% merino bulky, 300 yards, lemonade colorway.

7. 1 Be Sweet Magic Ball: novelty yarn mix, 120 yards, Bollywood colorway.

RULES:

1. Go to any of these listed podcasts and make a comment and/or vote for my podcast. Each comment and vote gets (2) entries.

PodShow Podsafe Network

PodCast Pickle

Podcast Alley

Pod-Planet

iTunes ...go to the bottom right to search for Sleepy Eyes Knits.


2. If you comment and/or vote (if available) on all 5 of the podcast websites, you get (10) entries!

3. Each comment on my blog from now until the day before the next podcast, gets (1) entry.

4. If you email me with a suggestion for a new website, yarn or some cool knitting or spinning tool, you get (2) entries.

5. If you come up with a poem or short essay or find a joke that you'd like me to read on the blog, you get (3) entries.

*Some of the podcast websites ask for you email address so that they can verify if you are a real person and not just placing an entry as a joke. In that case, they ask you to just check your email and click on the link that put in the email before the vote or comment goes through. Please make sure to do this. THANKS!*

Email me when you have done any of these things or when you've done all you want and I will keep track with my knitting notebook. The comments don't have to be long, so don't worry.

Winner will be picked on November 20th and announced on the 3rd Podcast: November Nights.

This yarn stash will be complemented with: some Knitting Magazines, Stitch Markers and Candy as well.

Good luck!! And, if you have some yarn or a gift you'd like to add to this STASH PRIZE, email me and you'll get a special gift from me and thanks on the next show.

Happy Knitting!!!!!

Podcast 2: The Drinking Game

Woo-hoo! I've finally got the second podcast done...AND, if you notice to the right...underneath the Sleepy Eyes Podcast button, there are DIRECT links to listen to the podcasts...yea!! Actually, it was the easiest thing I've had to do so far....which is kinda weird. Scroll down to see pics, links, sponsors and music groups. Please visit my 3 awesome sponsors!!!

GET MY PODCAST:

Podcast Alley

PodShow Podsafe Network

Podcast Pickle

Pod-Planet

iTunes

SPONSORS:

Sereknity Boutique

One Planet Yarn and Fiber ...coming soon!

Yarn Botanika....current home of Black Pearl yarns.

Mystical Vibes Candles

PICTURES:

1. Caroline (who flashed us and made us happy) and Lora (first podcast listener and first one who hugged me when I cried)!



2. Jackie...and more Jackie!



3. Ian's Sweater-to-Be (Barlett 100% wool yarn in Cornflower blue)



4. Mystical Vibes candles and MY candle!



5. Sarah (the awesomest driver in the world!)



6. Our ManchVegas Group....at Grand View 11/2006




LINKS:

Blue Moon Fiber Arts

Indoor Girl

Mystical Vibes

Armed with Pointy Sticks blog

Lora

Jackie

Laurin

Nichole

Podshow Podsafe Network


MUSIC:

John Maxfield with "Drinking Game"

Toni Kopra with "Secret Game"

The Usual Thing with "Game On"...(beginning music)


THANKS SOO much for listening and I will have the "Sleepy Eyes Needs WUV, too" Contest rules and prize pics up by Thursday, k? Hope you'll leave some comments : )

Happy Knitting!

Off to Grand View!!!

While I'm away at Grand View, feel free to browse these pics of my Handspun Yarn Stash (HYS) and my Fiber Yarn Haul (FYH)....mmmm...see anything ya like?

HANDSPUN STASH



CLOSE UP STASH



FIBER HAUL FROM ACKER's ACRES



LORA, look....GOBLIN FIBER!



BEAUTIFUL BAG Jackie made me...which is now for carrying FIBER!



A SNEAK PEAK....of the candles from Mystical Vibes, my new Podcast sponsor! YUMMY!



Miss me lots while I'm gone....Podcast Contest coming up on Monday!!! HUGE 5 skein or more WHOPPER prize! Stay tuned...

Happy Knitting!