Crafty Pancakes

March of the knitting bag

Check out these peepers...

I'll keep you in suspense about them for just a minute.

I've been a really good girl lately and have basically stopped buying sock yarn. The only one I have purchased, besides the club yarn, is this...

How pretty is that?! When I saw it on The Loopy Ewe it screamed at me to buy it. It's from The Great Adirondack Yarn Company, Inc. The Colorway is called Tropicana and the yarn is 70% merino / 20% silk / 10% nylon. It is so soft and fabulous. I can't wait to knit it up. I say that with every yarn and then end up just enjoy looking at them for months. But really.. great yarn.

The next one that showed up was another winner from the Tempted sock club that Loops runs. Stacy just started dyeing yarn with silver in it and she was sweet enough to let the clubbers get their hands on it. The colorway is great with it and is a fun and nostalgic one for me.  Here's Tiffani...

 

It was hard for me to capture the flecks of silver in it but they are there. I'm an 80s girl at heart so I am loving the colors!

I also received a gorgeous skein from the Zen Yarn Garden Harmony Semi-Solid Sock Yarn Club. When I pick out yarns to buy I never usually buy any sort of solids so Roxanne's club is so fabulous for me. I've loved every color and always look forward to seeing what she sends next. Her latest was Aubergine...

Yarn buying has been on my mind a lot lately and I decided that it can turn into a sickness. One that I suffer from when I go on a buying bender now and then. I'm really happy about slowing down on the yarn purchases from now on. Honestly, what's the point of having a ridiculous amount of yarn? I think most people have it just to say they have it. It's an ego thing. If you have so much yarn that it will take you years to knit it all (if you don't buy any more)... there are issues there*. I admit I have a bit too much yarn due to retail therapy. Thankfully I'm now trading in the PayPal black hole for working out. No more sitting on my ass spending money online and knitting the day away. I will have a bikini body by June and a nice chunk of change in the bank. I will give myself one weekend of yarn gluttony during The Loopy Ewe Spring Fling though.. and maybe a chocolate chip cookie now and then too. I'm a realist.

So about those peepers.. it's part of my latest sewing project. I love whimsy. I'm drawn to goofy things that make me smile. So when I wanted a fun perfect knitting bag I figured I needed to make it myself. Percy really makes my day...

 

I lined him in a fabulous lime green and used grommets instead of threading the cord in a casing to make him more durable since he holds a lot of stuff...

Every day is a little bit better when it involves my Percy penguin knitting bag.

I'm planning another bag. What animal will it be...

*I don't want emails or comments about how you don't have issues and that your massive amounts of yarn are totally normal. It's just my opinion! So if you were offended we can agree to disagree on yarn hoarding.

Update 2/28: Who am I kidding? People who hoard yarn don't have issues. They are happy. I'm a happy yarn hoarder.. and it's ok!  The shopping is back on.

I'm official

Just a little message to anyone who has my blog bookmarked... please update the site address to www.craftypancakes.com 

Thanks!

Quick proof

See, I do indeed have an FO once in awhile...

I love love love these socks! The yarn was great to knit with and the pattern was interesting. The only mod I did was to do a heel flap and gusset instead of the short row heel. Here's the info if you want to be a giant copycat..

Pattern: Socks Of Kindness

Yarn: Yarn Chef Minestrone

Colorway: In The Trees

Needles: size 1 (2.25mm) Knit Picks Harmony dpns

I also have a sewing project that is complete but I am saving it for tomorrow. Seeing two FOs from me in one post might be too much for you to handle.

Waffles cure colds*

Have you ever had a really bad cold?.. The kind that wouldn't go away?.. For a month? If you haven't then just know that it is a miserable way to spend four weeks. It doesn't really make for good knitting and blogging either. But lucky you I'm as good as new now. Let the party begin.

Thanks to all of you who sent Mia well wishes. She is doing great and feeling so much better.  Hearing that she didn't have cancer was such a relief. She's been on antibiotics for weeks now and had more blood work done yesterday. We are hoping her liver infection will be gone and that all that's left to do is wait for her flabby tummy to get covered up with hair again.

Like I mentioned.. being sick doesn't make me want to knit. It actually had me throwing back shots of Nyquil like there was no tomorrow. I was also feeling a little burned out on knitting since the last two socks I started were miserable failures. Apparently the cliche is true.. the third time is a charm...

 

This sock isn't giving me one bit of grief. I have enjoyed every minute of it so far. In case inquiring minds want to know..

Yarn: Yarn Chef Minestrone in the colorway 'In The Trees'

Pattern:  Socks Of Kindness

Needles:  Knit Picks Harmony dpns size 1 (2.25mm)

They are a great fun knit and perfect for shaded solid yarn.

I am going to start sharing my yarn purchases again. It was a little out of control for awhile and now it has calmed to a bloggable level. Yesterday I had the first shipment from the 2008 Blue Plate Special from Chewy Spaghetti sitting on my doorstep...

It was a fun package. The yarn is 70% merino/30% silk and feels really nice but is not exactly my favorite colorway. The pattern, Hopscotch, looks really fun though. The sheep measuring tape is too cute and get a load of the fab yarn ball/needles decoration...

There was a little note on it saying it can be hung from a rear view mirror.. good idea. Too bad when I mentioned that to my son he asked if I would take it off when I take him to and from school. I'll just hang it in my craft room where it will be appreciated.

Speaking of clubs.. I decided to drastically reduce the number of sock clubs I'm in. I had been signed up for a whopping 13! Yikes. That's just too many. I have now whittled them down to 6. That doesn't seem so bad. In a couple of months I'll be down to 5. It's not that I don't like the indie dyers but I would prefer to buy yarn from them in the colors I choose since the majority of club shipments I have gotten just didn't work for me. Those of you who know me.. stop shaking your head and laughing., I WILL NOT be in 13 again by the end of the month. I really will won't.

On the non-knitting front. I have found out that waffles can be eaten at every meal for days at a time. Seriously. My family loves waffles that much.  Yes, we love pancakes that much too, of course!  Our waffle obsession was spawned by watching an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown was making waffles. No, I wasn't the only person in town that didn't own a waffle iron. I just didn't own the kind he was using. So I needed it. I had previously been making Belgian waffles without realizing that my husband liked regular waffles better. So see.. I did need it. I wish I could make up a song to sing about how much I love that thing. I wish I could invite knitters from all over to my house for a waffle party! Maybe that only sounds fun to me. If you have a great waffle recipe let me know!

All of this waffle talk has made me hungry. I must distract myself with some sewing. Yes, sewing. I have as many yards of fabric as I do skeins of sock yarn (actually I have way more fabric than yarn). You'll never guess what I'm going to make. Let the suspense linger but not enough to where you are losing sleep. Lack of sleep could lead to mistakes in your knitting and I don't want to be responsible for that.

*I do not think waffles will cure your cold. Just mine because I have a special bond with waffles that brings healing*