Wednesday, July 30, 2008

What was I thinking?

I must be a glutton for pain. You'd think I would be relaxing and taking some time off after getting Turtle Butt out, but no. I'm ripping out my carpet.
Here was the point of no return (and the point where I say to myself, "What was I thinking?"):


Now I wasn't very fond of the 20 year old floral carpet, but I'm not sure how much better this is:


I have a lot of work ahead of me!

BTW, I did this all by myself. I'm very sore and tired. Tomorrow, the dining room?

Monday, July 28, 2008

The day has come...

I never thought the day would happen, but I'm actually sick of knitting!!! I'm sure once I take my little after-Turtle-Butt sabatically I'll be back strong. But, right now I don't even want to look at my needles.

I've got a ton of ideas that I just don't have time for. Maybe once school starts I can devote more time to my passion. I really want to design some lace patterns, but that takes some serious hard-work. We'll see. Good thing I love what I do!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

What's up, Turtle Butt!

Doodlebirds.com has come up with some great Turtle Butt kits and is offering them at a great discount. You'll get 4 oz of their gorgeous hand-dyed wool plus 4 oz of your choice of trim color. That's enough to make 2-3 Turtle Butts! Switch the main color and contrast color for variation. I love all of their colorways and can't wait to see them worked up.

http://www.doodlebirds.com/catalog.php?category=27

Friday, July 25, 2008

Turtle Butt is Here!

I couldn't resist sneaking it out a little early :-)

Here it is in all it's glory!

Turtle Butt, $7

Tomorrow!!!

The edits are done, charts are done, pictures inserted, Turtle Butt is finally ready! I'm releasing it 9 am tomorrow morning, whew!

Pattern will be available for immediate download for $7.
Get you needles and yarn ready!
Gauge is 5 sts per 1", I use #6 needles with worsted weight (but I'm a loose knitter). Knit in the round for the body, flat for the crotch.
Skill level: Not beginner! I would say more intermediate/advanced beginner. Do not pick this as your first knitting project or you will hate me :-)

Cottage License rules will be different for this pattern. Please see my Hyena Cart for more details http://hyenacart.com/adorabubbleknits
Check out this cutie!

Friday, July 18, 2008

My favorite yarnie momma!

Goodness! I totally forgot to give kudos to Beth at http://www.doodlebirds.com for her awesome colorways! Mr. Vertical Stripes is Beth's "Beach Vacation" on BFL. I have to say, I'm in love. Great boy colors.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Things to come

Vacation, visitors, new animal buddies have all kept me insanely busy. I've got a bunch of things I want to get done before the end of the summer, we'll see...

Anyway, here is what is coming up:

I prefer vertical stripes, so I made the britches sideways. This is my second attempt and I was able to figure out how to do a gusset!!! I do like this gusset, but I have an idea for a better one. So I'll make one more pair before I write up the pattern. Also, I was short on the trim color so the waist band isn't as wide as I would like. Just a proto-type.



Crochet Britches. These surprised me. I'm usually not a big crochet fan, but I really like how these turned out (these are made by my buddy Christi).



Turtle Butt should be done hopefully next week (cross my fingers).

More to come...

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

No pictures for a while

My brand new camera bit the dust :-( It took a swim in the lake and didn't survive. One of the kiddos went under and hubbie had no time to empty his pockets. Thank God Daddy got to kiddo fast enough so no harm was done aside from a scared boy and his dad.

I have a bunch of things I have to photograph and only a camera with a broken screen (the first one that broke). Ugh!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Melanie's Menagerie

Small one is lovin' his animals! Too funny. He is going to be so lucky to grow up on his very own petting zoo.





Turtle Butt is actually really, and I'm not lyin', close to being done. My wonderful testers are knittin' up a fury and giving me some great feedback. My goal is to have this thing ready to be published in 2 weeks. Whew!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Here goatie goatie!


DSCN6671
Originally uploaded by adorabubbleknits

Kiddo is lovin' the animals. He's my helper.

Good news on Turtle Butt! I was finally able to send the rough draft off to my testers last night. So, depending on how fast they knit and how fast I edit, Turtle Butt will be ready for release very soon (no pressure ladies!).

Also, I finally got the rough draft of the Crochet Britches pattern done. Working on some edits today that we found last night.

And, I've got 2 custom TB that I'm working on now. One is in brown and turquoise, so cool! Once these are done, I think I need a break from Turtle Butts :-) Too bad kiddo needs a new pair!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Life on the farm...

Oh my gosh, I'm so sore. Between lifting goats, moving pens, mending fences, I'm beat. I did more fence mending today and got them out of the small pen and into the big pasture. Goofballs stay right next to the gate, just hoping for me to let them out. Seriously, the 1 acre behind you full of alfalfa isn't enough?! The grass is alway greener on the other side of the fence...



Sam (white wether), Dulce Vita (dark doe), and Willy (white wether). It fun to see their personalities. No 2 goats are the same. Dulce is a little timid, but is warming up to me. Willy is a wee thing with gorgeous hair, very friendly, likes to eat out of my hand. Sam is more of a moose and also friendly, likes to try and eat my clothes. Willy was watching intently as I was opening the gate. I'm pretty sure he's a smart one. Dulce fleece is almost full (yipee!) and Sam is close as well. They are so soft to pet. I want to follow them around and knit right off their backs (I wish I could).