A Super Spectacular Favorite Things Swap

I received my package from Irene/Isis01 for the Fave Things Round 4 swap today, and, boy oh, boy did it just make me ever so happy! Irene sent me a book called "Emerald Isle" compiled by Anna Nicholas. I absolutely love anything associated with Ireland, so this book will be a great find to add to my collection!

Next came a book titled "Ashes of Roses" by Deirdre Purcell. This romance is based in *gasp* Ireland! What a great way to get into reading romance novels again!

Also included in this great package was a pattern book for Merino Plus with sweaters and afghans... I can't wait to start knitting some of these beautiful designs! Irene has pampered me with some beautiful yarns to start my knitting as well... there is a skein of Cyclone that is 100% wool and hand painted by Cherry Tree Hill, two skeins of Clyde in Lou, and two skeins of Rave in Natural. I have never heard of any of these yarns and I absolutely love all of them! Thank you, Irene!

Some little goodies I also received were... an adorable glass float with fishes, a orange and red raccoon purse, pens, a stuffed elephant pattern, some knit Pirate's fabric (I have to learn how to sew so I can make a bag out of this!), St. Dalfour's Organic Earl Grey Tea, and Barry's Gold Blend Black Tea: Robust. I'm definitely going to have a wonderful wake up call in the morning. This tea smells absolutely delish!!!

And to top it off, I mentioned to her that my sister, Kellee, and I would like to start spinning at some point, but haven't been able to yet. Irene sent two different colors of fiber, blue and purple, and two spindles, one for Kellee and one for me. Let's just say I called Kellee right away and told her I wanted to brag about the contents of my package and saved this tid-bit of information until last... :)

My picture to show the greatness...

And I really shouldn't have said "finally" because I had to take this picture separate to show how beautiful this is. I'm not sure if Irene made it or not, but I'm pretty sure she did...

The colors didn't turn out exactly right (it is pink and cream)... but isn't it amazing?! It will soon be framed and adorning my wall in the front room. I will be bragging!!!

My computer is back up

So... after a really messed up and bad virus I'm back!

It's been a crazy few weeks and hopefully I can get back into the swing of things. I've started selling Pampered Chef, learned to knit socks, have been watering my garden like crazy because of the heat, and been knitting up a hay storm on all sorts of other stuff!

I would post pictures of my first set of socks, but sadly I gave them away without taking a picture. You see, one of the girls at work got laid off that has been there 18 years and I wanted to give her something special... and whats more special than a pair of handknit socks?! Probably a couple of things... but they're close to the top on my list!

I'm working on a new version of Bella's scarf.... hopefully it will be finished soon! Its going to be quite fun messing around with it. Why are we (Kellee and me) revising it again, you ask... well... you may now be aware that we have competition in the Bella scarf department and need to figure out how to slant the darn thing! We WILL figure it out tho! Luckily, it hasn't stopped our customers from buying them tho... a BIG THANKS TO ALLYSON IN CALIFORNIA who purchased a scarf from me yesterday! You made me a very happy camper :)

I have a roast in the oven right now (cooking in my handy dandy deep covered baker from PC) that I best go check.

Enjoy the tomatoes! I know I am!

June's Super Swap

I received my super swap package last week from Evey and, boy, was I thrilled! Sadly, our newest member of the family has decided he likes yarn. He pulled it off of the kitchen table and decided to help me unravel it (silly puppies!). It does look pretty cool in the picture though, right? The yarn is Noro's Silk Garden Lite. I've seen Noro at the local yarn shops, but have never picked it up since I couldn't think of anything to knit with it. Evey also sent me a Noro pattern book, which solved the dilema. I am going to pick up some double points at the store some time this week or the next and start on a pair of arm warmers :)

I also received a bunch of other great goodies that included a hand knit bag out of Noro's Silk Garden (this is such a beautiful bag!), a yellow shawl, some hilarious note cards, a postcard, magnet, and spoon (all from Canada), stitch markers (one has a house on it and we have been busy working on our house so it works great!), tea, cocoa, cider, scizzors, a very pretty lip stick case, hand lotion, a maple leaf sucker (maple syrup [double delicious! I had to resist it until I took the pictures), and some yummy looking fruit bars that I can't wait to try!

Evey really did a great job and spoiled me galore! This was a great stuff it swap and I hope she likes the package I sent her just as much!

Bartleby

Well it has been a busy, busy couple of weeks and so I haven't been able to blog... or rather have been too tired to blog!

It all ended yesterday (hopefully) with a bang of a birthday party for my mom's 54th. We had the whole family over for sausages, salads, chips, and cake. And boy, was it a dog of a party!

Kellee had picked up an Australian Shepherd mix on Friday and named him Jasper (can you guess why?).

That sent an itch up my spine and Nate and I went to the Salt Lake City Animal Shelter and the Humane Society of Utah yesterday morning. We were looking for a one year old dog... a lab or possibly an Austrailian Shepherd. We didn't find a dog that really clicked at the SLC Shelter so we continued on to the Humane Society.

We walked through and looked at all the dogs and eyeballed a lady walking around with a puppy that looked just like a Golden Retreiver pup... and surprise! It WAS! To Nate it was a done deal and I knew he wanted one very bad... so I agreed.
I will proudly introduce you to the newest member of our family, Bartleby!

And on Wednesday we had the joy of watching my Sparkle (better known as Michael, my nephew) walk in his graduation from East Hollywood High School.

We were so proud of him! It had been a very sketchy week, but luckily he made it!

I recorded the video of his "aspirations" which I will post later on once I figure it out.

He is such a handsome boy... er man now that he is grown up :)

My parents returned from their Oregon vacation on Sunday of last week, too. They brought me some great do-dads. The best is the smoked cheddar cheese and cheese curds from Tillamook.

Some really pretty measuring spoons... there is no way I can use these in the kitchen!

And to finish it off, a cute magnet!

Rosalie's Scarf

Kellee finished her Rosalie scarf this week and I took some pictures last night for our Etsy site.

It is so beautiful and soft! She knitted it out of a cashmere, nylon, acryllic blend.

Have you noticed how many of the knitted items in Twilight have a stitch with the name 'horse shoe' in it? The gloves, Rosalie's scarf, and Bella's scarf. You have to love it!

We're selling this one for $85 with free priority mail shipping in the US. Visit neuroticknitterz.etsy.com for more information!

May Swap Package

My first yarn swap was a total hit (with me of course!)

My swap partner was Craftmummy on Ravelry and she sent me some really great items!

I plan on using the alpaca yarn to knit myself a scarf since it is so soft and a great color to go with my winter wardrobe! I really can't wait until next winter now!

I smelled the candles as soon as I opened the package and boy did they smell great! They're mango tangerine and they really wake you up!!!

I'm going to bring the photo holders to work so I can put up some pics of my hubby, cats, and dog... I have even considered putting up some photos of my flowers and veggie garden since I'm so proud of them!

Verdict on my first swap: A+ I absolutely love it! Thanks Britainy!

Bella's scarf

Now... I've been having a lot of fun with this scarf! I say that sarcastically.... but it is true at the same time!

Kellee called me last night and said... "something clicked." So I ran over there and poured over the baseball scene for the hundredth time over and over again and BAM! There it was...

The grey doesn't rotate from side to side... it stays going up the middle! Who knew? I sure as hell didn't pay attention at 3 in the morning when I was trying to figure it out a few weeks ago.

I took out the scarf I had started and started another one.

Oh, and one more thing! We noticed there is a bit of the magenta color at the ends... maybe one or two inches tops!

I can now honestly say there is one bad thing about the baseball scene when you're trying to figure out a pattern and that is that you cannot see worth anything! I am up to the third panel now... working on the magenta again! I'll post a picture soon of what it is beginning to look like...

Beginning a Blog

This is my first ever blog!

I know it seems slightly neurotic for me to say that, but it is very true! I've read numerous blogs online, mainly when I'm searching for patterns or ideas. I've loved every single one of them, too! I've even attemped blogging on myspace and facebook, but I can never seem to get the complete concept. So I decided that I would start a knitting blog!

I am a neurotic knitter... or one of the two (my sister Kellee is the second). We both knit like crazy mainly because it helps calm our nerves. I have recently started knitting and felting bowls. I thought they would be interesting to try out for felting, as I've never tried it and WHALA! Three runs through the washing machine on hot I found out it really works! I couldn't believe it! (can you tell how sceptical I was?!)

My newest interest is getting Bella's baseball scarf down to a T! I've knitted two so far, but neither of them were exactly as I wanted them to be. So... round three will hopefully work out! I'm starting with a slant. I'll get pictures as I go and hopefully it will work out for the best!