Purple Flowers

Does anyone know what flower this is?

We were at the botanic gardens this weekend, and found it but there was no name tag. I Love the way it looks with the pretty tines and purple color!

Just a shot in the dark...

Thanks Spinalcat!

Thanks to my prge pal, Spinalcat (aka Amy), I have two more knitting books - and I am so excited!! I have been dying for Romantic Style, but none of the LYS that I frequent stock it! The dress on the front cover is so cool!! I can't imagine that I will make it through next week without casting it on!! There are also about 10 other projects in the book that I love and would totally wear - yippee!! And for my new found love of socks, More Sensational Knitted Socks!! Which is really cool, since the patterns are so different then the ones that I have! These two gifts may totally blow my summer knitting list -- or I may have to revamp it! Thank you so much Amy!! I know both of these books are going to get a ton of use!!

Quality time with my ball winder...

I spent some quality time with my ball winder last night and loved the way the yarn looked all rolled , so I had to post it. Most if it is for the women in my class, who would otherwise wind by hand (Keep in mind all the taupe/tan yarn is cobweb weight acrylic - can you imagine how long that would take by hand?) However the 7 skeins of sock yarn to the far left are for me. This will keep me in yarn for quite a while!

Happy Knitting!!

Knitting does still happen here...

Yes, there has actually been knitting!! Despite a really busy and beautiful weekend, I managed to finish a pair of socks and two single socks - yippee!! I am not sure about the pair, even though the yarn looked so good together in the picture, I am not sure that I love it in real life. I do love the way it feels on my feet. However, I did make the socks for hiking, so no one except me and mr.sunneshine (when he does the laundry) will ever see the colors together.

The singles socks are my first Vinnland, which you can see from the not being work photo - looks okay. But then when I put it on, I loved it!! And a few highlighter strokes to the pattern, and all the sudden it wasn't so hard. I should have the next one done by next weekend! The other single sock is what I am calling the James Bond sock - since most of it was done while we watched Casino Royale. It is just a twisted rib pattern on a basic sock. I had never done pattern down the foot of a sock, so I thought I'd try it. Its really hard to see from the photo, but I love the way it looks with the dark yarn. It is a little thick, but when I am cruising around in my Birkenstock clogs, it will look great!! (Yeah, I know they are dorky and clunky, but after standing on my feet all day, they feel so good!!!)

Finally, I got a package from Scout on Friday and this lovely was part of it. I first saw this magnet on Enchanted Daffodils blog. It was too cute, I had to order one. I am sure it will get stolen, but until then, I am really enjoying it!!

Barbie is listed...

Finally, the Barbies have been listed in the Rocky Mountain News - Here is the link:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/fashion/article/0,2792,DRMN_62_5552102,00.html

They are auctioning off the doll to benefit Dress for Success, a great cause! But there is also a link where you can rate each Barbie from 1-5, so if you have the time, please, please give my Barbie a 5!! There are a bunch of really well done dolls, so it is a fun look! To see all the dolls, you either have to go to ebay or rate the dolls... Its kind of a bummer since you don't really get the full effect of the Mohawk from the photos, but this was so fun!

I appreciate all the voting help in advance!!

knitting projects revisited

Reading Calling on Kahlo's blog the other day, she referenced a contest at Skeins Her Way blog. This was one that I thought I could actually benefit from even if I don't win. The contest is to set your summer knitting goals. Now there hasn't been a whole lot of knitting happening recently. This is due to a few factors:
My little stitch marker business is cutting into my knitting time... but its still crafting and I really enjoy it, so that probably won't change.
There is a little burnout after the Hush dress.
Everything that I want to knit is so dang hard that I can't always concentrate when I get home from work - and I am averaging one day off a month right now...

So keeping those factors in mind, I pulled out my January list of things that I want to knit and already own the yarn for. I have crossed a few things off (and I am almost done with one more on there...) and decided that I should pick a couple off the list and allow for a new addition or two....

So my summer knitting goals are:
1. 2 fair isle christmas stockings for my husband and myself (I need to write the charts for the design too)
2. 1 pair of tiny toes socks
3. 1 pair of toasty toes socks
4. Ene's scarf from scarf style
5. Rococo socks (recent addition)
6. Market bag (and re-writing the top design)
7. Henne Falkenburg Ballerina sweater (new addition)
*and if I have time Mountain Peaks Shawl (new addition)*

From right here, right now, it doesn't look that ambitious, but we'll see what happens!! I may have to come back and add more - but I am one of those crazy people who needs to finish everything on the list to be happy...

This is a long one...

I accidently took a week off blogging. Its good to be back - but now there is all this stuff to show and tell. So this is a long picture-full post...

It was my second wedding anniversary yesterday. All good and fun. But in the sunneshine household, we can't let any good thing pass with a single day of celebration, so we had 5 days of parties (partying) - hence no time for blogging... We began our five days of celebrating with the traditional baseball game (traditional to us). The best picture from there was my Rockie Dog - a 12" hot dog sold only at Coors Field. Yummm...

Friday was a mellower dinner out. Saturday was a dressed dinner at a wonderful new restaurant in Denver called Fruition. Great food, good wine, excellent service - a winning combination.
Sunday was an open house for our tenants and neighbors. Last night we celebrated with grilled blue cheese burgers and beer - too tired to do much else!!

So there hasn't been tons of knitting, but I will do a rare in progress of the projects that I am actually working on right now. There are the spring hiking socks. They have taken the place of
errand hat. They are so easy and quick and I love the wicking yarn from Halcyon! When I finish these two pairs, all the stash wick yarn will be gone :) Then there is the Vinnland. They are not easy to photograph! You can kinda-sorta see the pattern and this photo washes out the yarn. I am not in love with this pattern. I don't find the pattern rhythmic, nor am I thrilled with how the smaller gauge yarn that I am using shows the pattern. But I really want to finish a set of toe up socks - so these will get done!!

Finally we have some AMAZING packages that I received in the mail yesterday!! The first one is
my first installment of my knitters treat package from Poppy (who still hasn't told me her real name). She is from Washington and filled the box with treats from there. And since it is my favorite place in the world - Yippee!! There was two local coffees, chocolate, a beautiful magnet, a wonderful rosewood bracelet, lavender lotion, organic wool wash, and a beautiful card!! Such a wonderful gift - Thanks Poppy!!

Then my coffee swap package came from Jana at White Oak Studio. She gave coffee, in the coolest
packaging I have ever seen!! A skull bag, a sock pattern, some beautiful yarn called Sleepless in
Seattle (did she know that I was from there?) from her amazing etsy shop and Scout, her beautiful black lab, added the dog notebook!! Thank you Jana!!

It is pouring, pouring, pouring here today!! So, I am trying to get caught up on my work, so I can knit a little more!!

Have a great week!!