Sugar Bunny Boulevard

Yarn Makes Us Happy!

A few days ago Emeline and Lila Pearl proclaimed "Yarn Makes Us Happy!" so of course I had to grab the camera to see if I could get them to repeat it.  This is how it went....

Beautiful Things and Surprises Revealed

Happy Spring Wednesday Everyone!

Sunday afternoon there was an estate auction two houses down on our street.  The neighborhood was a bustle of cars, people walking, a din of chatter and auctioneer sounds.  We picked up a few goodies and Jeff shuttled back and forth between the auction and our house depending on what they were selling at the moment.  For a while I sat on the porch swing knitting while Emeline and Lila Pearl played on the porch and ran about in the grass.  It was a beautiful sunny day - perfect for the auction.

Emeline was down in the grass picking dandelions and wandered over to the driveway.  She stopped in the middle of the driveway and stared for a moment at the garage.  Then she said, "Mommy..... Mommy!  Come see this!  Mommy.  You have to see this beautiful thing."

For a few days every spring our driveway is covered with a halo of bring pink blossoms - the red bud trees are stunning.  I actually hate those trees the rest of the year because every single tiny pink blossom produces what seems like approximately one hundred wafer thin seed pods that litter our driveway and patio later in the year then crack open and release four or five small disc-like seeds which get stuck on your shoes, feet, etc, and get tracked through the house.  Think cat hair.  These seeds and pods haunt you like cat hair.  The cat can be dead and gone for twenty five years but you still find their hairs around the house - even when you move to a different house.  Yes - the seed pods are like that.  The only thing that keeps me from cutting our red bud trees down is the picture above.  When they are in bloom I would like to set up a tent at the end of our driveway and stay out there until they're gone because it is a beautiful sight to see.  And I'd still be nearby to a bathroom.  I was happy to know Emeline notices these beautiful things in our world without being prompted.

It's always a fun and unexpected surprise when someone who I don't know ads me to their "Friends" on Ravelry.  I always wonder why in the world they want me for a Friend if they don't know me.  A few days ago I received a notice that Cedric added me to his Friends.  When I get a new request I always add that person to my Friends, then click on their picture to read their profile so I can learn more about them.  Cedric is a 74yo man.  He has been knitting for over 70 years.  And lives in the Shetland Islands.  This is all very interesting to me.  Even more, he's all of this - lives in this place - and has a computer and is using Ravelry.  And he has less than 40 people (at the time of this writing) on his list of Friends.  I am so honored that Cedric added me to his Friends.  Hmm.  His birthday is November 9th.  Maybe he wants to participate in the Ravelry Scorpio Birthday Swap this year!?  You never know.  I could ask him. 

Although I haven't been posting a whole lot, I am getting caught up on Bloglines.  Why oh why do I love to read so many blogs?  I'm keeping the number down - less than 200 unread posts now when it was over 2000!  And I'm happy to say I did read - a bit of skimming might have happened - but I didn't just wipe it all out and start anew.  I'm not commenting much (who has time? actually I would have time but my ancient computer doesn't like to leave comments - that will all change when we get our Economic Stimulus Check next month!) but I'm reading reading reading!  :)

SURPRISE TIME!

So the surprises.  I have three surprises right now.  I'm keeping one as secret a while longer.  The other two are ready for a Reveal!  Yay!

Surprise #1:  I told you I've been writing a sock pattern to be released with a kit.  Here's a little more information about it.  I've got my fingers crossed that you'll LOVE this!

Introducing Pink Ribbon Socks!

These are not the final pattern photos - I'll probably try to get the giant sack of yarn stash out of the way for the final photo shoot.  heh

The kit concept began with this colorway - called Pink Ribbon.  After I dyed it and I saw this yarn I was instantly inspired.  The pattern came together quickly in my head and with some research, lots of swatching, and diligent knitting, my idea became an actual knitted item (even a pair!).  Now the pattern is on paper, has been charted and is on its way to my test knitters!  Wow!  The original pair of Pink Ribbon Socks fit my daughter Katie perfectly (and it was her turn in the family sock knitting queue).  She wore them for the first time to school yesterday.  For some reason that made me nervous.  hehe

The Pink Ribbon Sock Kit is a limited edition and will soon have a web page with instructions for preordering.  The kit will cost $40 plus shipping, international orders will be accepted, and $20 of every purchase will be donated to the national Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation!

The Pink Ribbon Lace pattern begins at the top with a cable twist and goes down each side of the leg, seperating at the gusset, carrying the ribbons to meet in the front and back.  The Pink Ribbon Lace pattern continues down the front of the foot and at the heel concludes with a cable twist.  The foot and leg can be adjusted in length by adding or subtracting repeats from the pattern, or adding stockinette at the end of the foot.

Complete instructions are given in the pattern for heel flap construction, turning the heel, and completing the toe.  Alternate toe construction can be substituted for what is given in the pattern.

There will be 100 kits available, and each will come with the pattern, hand numbered, in a sheet protector along with 100g of the exclusive Sugar Bunny Boulevard Pink Ribbon colorway and the receipt confirming your donation to the Susan G. Komen foundation. 

If there is an overwhelming response to the kits there may be a second limited edition release later this summer in time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.  At this time I haven't found a way to release the pattern for sale on its own so that the money can bypass me and be donated directly to Susan G Komen with an automatic download.  If anyone has ideas for this please let me know.

Surprise #2:

If you can stand it, I do have one more surprise.

Sugar Bunny Boulevard yarn and stich markers will soon be for sale at The Loopy Ewe.

I think that sentence stands alone.  If you're reading this you probably have a clue.

Had enough surprises?  Okay, then I think I'm done for now.  And next time I promise to show and tell about my Wee Tiny Sock Swap experience of 2008!  Yay!  I really love WTS.

Have a super wonderful rest of your week - enjoy the beauty of spring all around you - unless you're cussing about snow still falling - but still there must be some beautiful things to be appreciating, right?  Like you could pretend that you live in Australia and it's supposed to be getting cold and starting winter now?  :D

Take care of every little thing and I'll see you back here next time or maybe in your blog comments!

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Where Is Spring?

Happy Friday Everyone!  :)

So it's supposed to be Spring.  The season of renewal.  All over blogland people are suffering from the fact that Winter doesn't want to let go.  Spring is trying to come forth and it's having a hard time pushing past the bully that Winter seems to be this year.

Spring appears to be the season when kids who play spring sports (track and baseball and tennis anyone?) are constantly cancelling practices games and meets because of rain - in some cases, snow.  Sheesh.  C'mon already, Spring!  Let's have a bit of tweeting birds and sunshine!  Where can we rustle up some flowers and butterflies?

Actually, just across the street Mr. W's pear tree is blooming - not quite all the way yet but looking oh so pretty and his yard is FULL of daffodils.  My favorite bulb.  I really need to be thinking Spring Flowers when the weather gets chilly this fall!

I nearly froze to death this morning getting a picture of the pear blossoms.

I've been dyeing and spinning a bit of Spring too.  Wanna see?

Sunshine.  This is the first time I've spun sock yarn that I felt really satisfied with.  How long did it take me to get to this point?  Thank goodness I didn't know how long it would take when I started spinning.  I feel like I've been spinning a looooong time and it's been what.... less than two years?  lol  Finally sock yarn that isn't too thick, isn't overtwisted - it's Just Right.  And beautiful.  Sunny and happy.  88 grams.  395 yards.  Not for sale.

New Leaf.  Dyed to sell but couldn't.  I'm keeping this one and dyeing more.  :)

Apple Blossom

I was trying to do a shop update today but the week got away from me and we've been sick, the rain is getting us all down, and really all I've wanted to do is knit.

Emeline loves to use my camera.  Yes, it horrifies me to see her walking around the house with it but she just begs so sweetly and promises not to break or drop it.  She usually sneaks it out of the kitchen but this morning I allowed her to take some pictures.

She actually takes very interesting and Good pictures!  Here's one this morning of me... what else?  Knitting.

I've been doing some secret knitting and guess what.... you won't believe it.  Pattern writing.  I'm writing a sock pattern that will be available as a kit very soon (I'm really hoping first week of May?).  Very exciting.  I have some other secrets - one that I know you'll find out about... another I'm patiently waiting to hear about.  Fun fun fun and it's all about yarn and knitting and fiber.  Yay!

Having the babies around keeps life interesting.  Emeline is, once again, working on potty training.  No diaper now for about three days.  Several accidents and some long awaited successes as well.  Hopefully Lila Pearl won't be far behind!

Everybody have a wonderful Springy weekend - whether you have rain or the coveted Sunshine!

And take good care of every little thing.  :)       XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Afghan Delivery in Five Days!

Here we go!  The time is upon us - the time for Afghan Delivery!  Yay!

DATE:  Saturday, March 8, 2008
TIME:  5:30pm
LOCATION:  First Baptist Church of Greensburg
MAP:  If you are planning to attend please email me for info/directions
OTHER DETAILS:  The afghans will be delivered and presented at the beginning of a community event being held the evening of March 8th from 6-8pm.  They're hosting the Toney Brothers Quartet at First Baptist that evening.  I'll be setting up during the 5:00 hour and doing a brief presentation prior to the concert.  I'm not finished counting but I believe we have close to 50 afghans to take with us to Greensburg!

At this point, Jeff and I are probably the only ones going, though it's possible one or two others from church might come along.  If you have family in the area who you aren't certain will be at this event and you would like them to receive an afghan please contact me - we can plan to be in town early enough to deliver afghans to those families.

I've arrived at a final decision about care labels.  I'm using a sew-in fabric label that I will print the label information onto.  It's special fabric for quilts that people print photos and everything onto - washable, permanent, etc.  Here's what the label text looks like.  What do you think?  Suggestions?  I'm probably printing these tonight or tomorrow and look forward to seeing how it looks printed on the fabric! (ETA:  I'm checking the date - I think it was actually May 4)

What else is going on around the Bunny Hutch?  Lots of yarn dyeing and I just got another shipment today of my Benjamin base yarn!  Yay!  I've been having fun creating ads for Ravelry too...

The babies have been wreaking havoc all over the house while I'm dyeing yarn and making Ravelry ads.  (sigh)  Here are a few pictures of them not destroying anything or flushing soap down the toilet or any of a number of other crazy things they've done in the past few weeks.

I've continued with with my EPS Immersion.  EPS2 has been knit and finished.  It's a teeny tiny little raglan cardigan made from just one skein of Cascade 220 - big enough to fit about... oh... I don't really know.  I don't have a little baby around to try it on but I think it'll fit up to a 12mo baby.  It's too small for Lila Pearl.  The simple but pretty buttons are vintage shell buttons that I bought at Twist.  That little butterfly of yarn is all that was left over from the skein.  This was my first steeking experience.  Won't be my last.  Won't do it the same way ever again - I had a major steeking panic after cutting when I realized that whatever I did Was Not Enough!  Cut ends floating around = panic! panic! panic!  heh  My biggest mistake was thinking I didn't need to sew the steek as agressively as EZ recommends.  Silly me.  Repeat:  Won't do it the same way ever again.  This is such an awesome growing and learning experience as a knitter.

EPS3 has begun and is a striped sweater with round yoke decreases, also child sized, with no color repeats in the striping sequence.  I've finished the body and one sleeve.  This is a slow one because I'm changing colors "X" number of rows, and increasing every 5 rows on the sleeves.  There's been a lot of tinking on this one sleeve that I just finished last night.  I need some good time with it so I can get the crazy thing finished - I don't want to do another quite like this again!  EPS4 will be a gray cardi with some kind of color work around the bottom with saddle shoulders, also child sized.  Most of these small sweaters will be on display at Twist soon to promote the EPS Workshop that I'm leading/teaching beginning March 22nd.

Time to get going - I've got a lot afghans to sew labels on to! 

Take good care of every little thing and I'll see you again this week with some afghan pictures and another shop update!  XOXOXOX

Eye Candy Friday

This is such a cheery sight!  Sunny and pretty - yummy wool and sock yarn in Springy Colors!  Just a little preview of some of my shop additions for Monday.  I'm clearing out the old stock of sock yarn getting ready to order more of my Benjamin base yarn PLUS Zephyr silk/wool laceweight.  I can't wait to get my hands on that!!

Have you seen the handspun and roving I've got listed in the shop??

Have a wonderful weekend and may Spring be just around the corner for all of us!  :)

Something Completely Different

Let's start with something sweet.  :)

This is Emeline and Lila Pearl yesterday morning trying to pose with the Morning Glories before we left to deliver some afghan packets to a few ladies here in town.

Is anybody tired of me posting about nothing but afghans for the past five months??  Sorry but it's not over yet.  And even though this post isn't officially about the afghan project I wanted to add something to what I wrote about yesterday.

It might sound like I'm a little worn down by this project after working on it for five months but I'm thankful every day that I can do it.  Thankful every day that I didn't lose my home, my posessions, my family members or neighbors to the tornado that did so much destruction in the town of Greensburg, Kansas.  Thankful and blessed every day that I can work on this project in the comfort of my home with the hustle and bustle of a healthy happy family around me.  And reminded every day that the people and families of Greensburg still have a long road of rebuilding and recovery ahead of them - materially and emotionally.  I'm thankful for every single person who has helped with this project and thankful for your continued interest and support.  That includes my husband and children who did NOT sign up for any of this and were at the mercy of my whim to start this whole project not knowing what it would grow into.  Thanks everybody.  :)

NOW on to Something Completely Different!! 

We've got new yarn for sale and it's not just a new skein of yarn.... we've got two entirely new lines of yarn that I'll be offering depending on your interest.  It's nice to be the master dyer at Sugar Bunny Boulevard because I can make up the rules and change them as I go along!  heh 

The first new yarn we're offering at the Hutch is called Peachy Cotton.  You don't have to ponder long to conclude that the base yarn is Peaches and Cream cotton.  I wanted to make the One Piece Baby Kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting and wasn't very excited about the color options I found.  The next step was obvious:  dye my own.  And I now have more than I needed!!  Soooooo.... you get to try it out!

The first colorway is called AUTUMN and you can find a description along with prices in the Bunny Tales shop (also linked in my sidebar below all of the afghan info).  I'm offering three skeins which is more than enough to make the Baby Kimono from MDK.  You could probably get a matching pair of booties out of that much yarn!  Awwwww.  :)

Peachy Cotton AUTUMN Swatch

The next new yarn is something I'm really excited about.  It's a 100% Merino Superwash Wool sock yarn that I'm calling Benjamin.  My blog is named Sugar Bunny Boulevard because I always called my babies Sugar Bunny.  With Benjamin being my first baby it only seemed appropriate that my first named line of yarn would be called Benjamin.  I'm thrilled to be finally upgrading my base yarns and this is the first one I'm happy to call "my own" with a name.  Ravelry is creating a lot of interest in indie dyers and I'm looking forward to having more time to dye this fall.  Check out the details of the Benjamin sock yarn in my Bunny Tales shop.  I think you'll love this yarn and I look forward to listing more in the shop in the next week or so!

Benjamin sock yarn in CRANBERRY

Gotta run - I've got some special knitting to do, pictures to take, and squares to sort!  OH!  And maybe some babies to take care of.  heh  Have a great day and take good care of every little thing! XOXOXOX

Yarn Candy Friday

One of my favorite things about food is COLOR.  And it shouldn't be any surprise that one of my favorite things about yarn dyeing is COLOR!!

This skein of yarn feels like one of my greatest accomplishments.  Reds aren't easy and for a long time I was trying to make them in the most difficult way possible by not using professional dyes.  Now that I've been using Jacquard dyes for a while the colorways have gotten better and better as time goes on.

A few holidays ago - not even within the past year - I took some pictures of cranberries as we ground them for our cranberry relish.  I wanted to recreate that color.  (The above picture was taken this morning!)  Now I realize it's not a color but a colorway.  Wow.  The dark reds, brown/blacks, pink and white.... all blend to make a gorgeous holiday dinner favorite.

Now it's a yarn colorway and it can be yours is sold.  This is the most delicious merino/silk sock yarn ever and the colors are very rich.  This subtle yet poppy variegated colorway will make gorgeous socks in so many patterns from ribs to cables and lace.  Oh I wish I could make a million swatches with this yarn.

Below is a swatch I did for the lovely Loksins! socks.  If you divide the swatch into thirds, THIS colorway, CRANBERRY, is on the far RIGHT.  Paul, yours is the far left.  The center is BRICK, which is going to my Sockapalooza Pal.  This picture is a little on the light side - the true colors are much richer and darker.  You know how cameras are with color reality.  It's hard to get the real thing.

SOLD
COLORWAY:  Cranberry
FIBER:  70% merino wool, 30% silk
WEIGHT:  Fingering; 7-8 stitches per inch with US 1-3 needles
100 grams; 440 yards
$23 plus $2 shipping within the US, $6 shipping to Canada  - PAYPAL is preferred
To purchase please email me at sugarbunnyblvd@aol.com or leave a comment here on the blog.  Only one skein available right now.  Sorry, I'm not taking special orders at the moment but I do hope to make more of this colorway.

 

Daily Afghan Report:

Here we are again with a combined 2-day report for Thursday and Friday.  I love getting the squares but y'all, the letters I'm getting are nearly as wonderful!  I wish I could reply personally to every single one.  Today we're adding 58 squares, 6 yarn needles, and $10 to the tally!  Yay!  Thank you for the $$.  I've had several people say that they DO want a PayPal button in the sidebar.  I have checked out what I need to do and will have one up there some time in the next day or so.  This $10 will be added to the $20 I received waaaaay back at the beginning of the project.  At the time I had no CLUE how big this project would be.  Thanks again to everyone for the encouragement and support.

Today's squares and yarn needles and $$ came from the following people:

• 92yo Ruth - El Dorado, KS
• Ann - South Bound Brook, NJ 
• My Aunt Marsha - Eaton Rapids, MI (Hi Marsha! thanks for the picture of the girls!)
• Kristy - Cuyahoga Falls, OH (such a sweet card you sent!)
• Pat - Sierra Vista, AZ (HUG!!)
• Elaine - Portland, ME (hugs to you and thanks for the beautiful letter!)
• Dana - Chicago, IL
• Denise - Berwyn, PA
• Vicki and Carin - Algonia, IA
• Monica - Payallup, WA

Everybody have a fun weekend.  Carole instructed us to do so on her post today!  My fun weekend will start with a visit with my knitting pals in Wichita tonight.  I have only gone to one night-time meetup and it was before Lila Pearl was born so you know it's been a WHILE.  heh  Then tomorrow - I'm not sure what but I'll probably go see what's happening at TWIST and maybe help a little if I can.  Then Sunday the big kids are coming home.  Whew.  I cannot WAIT - we're all very excited to have them back with us again.

Don't forget the contest on yesterday's post and have a great weekend!!  :) 

HUFFLEPUFF

Funny how things don't always turn out how you expect yet they're still great!  :)

I dyed two skeins of Hufflepuff yarn exactly alike.  I've started knitting one skein for my pal in the RPM sock pattern and the other skein is tentatively spoken for SOLD thanks to a nice referral (thanks Susie!).  I don't expect to be dyeing more skeins exactly like this because the striping didn't come out exactly as I imagined, but I like it anyway.  I do, however, plan to make more Hufflepuff and also some Gryffindor.

This yarn is just incredible.  I haven't used a silk blend sock yarn before.  If you have then I'm sure you can imagine the feeling of "this is AWESOME!"  heh  I've always wanted to use some Regia SILK.  I had two skeins but then gifted them to someone and never got to try the yarn.  I just can't imagine it being better than this.  No possible way.  NO.  POSSIBLE.  WAY.  I can't imagine how awesome it would be to WEAR these socks.  Oh the softness.  I'm nearly drooling thinking about it.  hehe  I know I'm silly.  Gotta get more more more of this base yarn - I think I only have a few skeins left.

Update on Katie:  The arm has stopped hurting.  Thank Heaven.  But last night the poor girl woke around 3:15am puking.  I suspect a mild case of food poisoning and blame it on the chicken teriyaki she had for lunch at school yesterday.  She stayed home this morning but is feeling better now and went to school at 12:30.  What a good girl.  I think I would have stayed home if that happened to me in 8th grade.  Probably because I didn't like Mr. Honzowitz.  Ugh.

Gray Friday

This might be Eye Candy Friday.... but it's a Gray Day everywhere I look.

Up.  And Down.

Despite the gray weather, this is a good happy day.

First, it's Friday.  Jeff doesn't work late on Fridays.  We all look forward to the evenings when every chair is filled at the dinner table.  Well, Benny will be gone to a far away basketball game (we've only been making it to home games since the babies have a hard time sitting through an event like that).  But otherwise we'll all be home for dinner.

I took the babies to the Y this morning and got some exercise.  WOW it makes me feel great when I get to do that.  But again... life is sometimes dictated by the babies, it seems.  I've been trying not to take them out twice in a day so that they can get in a good nap - so going to the Y takes a back seat to higher priority outings like doctor appointments or meeting Daddy in Wichita for lunch.

Can I tell you how happy it makes me to see my Bloglines under 200?!  VERY happy.  At one point we were over 2000.  Two. Thousand.  I never did click on "mark all read" because I can't bear to think I might miss something important.  It has taken a few week to get it under 200 which I find VERY bearable.

Despite the gray of the day, I am surrounded by lovely things that bring me happiness. 

Pretty babies:

Lovely spinning... to become my next Twisted Knitters project...

...and some delicious knitting that makes me smile every time I look at the colored stitches blend and contrast and line up in nice rows and stack V upon V.

Here's a close-up of a skein of this yarn.  I'm thinking of making some sock yarn in this colorway.... what do y'all think?

I have gotten a custom order for two skeins of worsted weight yarn in the pink colorway I dyed for the Besotted scarf I knit.  If anyone else out there in the world might like two skeins of squishy soft worsted weight wool in this colorway, send me an email or leave a comment!  I'll be happy to enable anybody wanting to knit with this pretty colorway.  Of course I can do other colors too.  Let me know if you have a special request.  My scarf was 48" long but 200g of worsted will make an even longer scarf or give you some leftover yarn to make a pair of Fetching mitts to match!

This variegated colorway is a blend of reds, pinks, rose and wine.  The base yarn is Knitpicks Bare and the dyes I used are RIT dyes.  This red dye did NOT rub off on my hands when I knit with it, though it did bleed into the water when I washed my scarf (typical red behavior). 

200g worsted weight wool (2 skeins of 100g)
$16.00 + $2.00 for shipping within the U.S.
A total of six skeins of yarn (enough for three scarfs) available.
(click photos for larger view)

Everybody have a wonderful weekend!  Love your gray days.  Squish your knits.  Hug and kiss your family.  Pet some yarn.  Exercise if you can!  Smile a lot.  :)

When Norma Nags

When our dear Norma nags, people listen.  Maybe it's because when our dear Norma nags, it's about something totally nagworthy.

A week or so ago when I checked in on Norma she was nagging us that it's not too late to knit a scarf for the Red Scarf Project!!  That was January 21st.  The scarfs don't have to be sent until February 1st!  I thought many things.

• It's so nice that there has been such a great response to Norma's Red Scarf Project this year
• Too bad I didn't plan better and I could have knit a red scarf (nag starting to take effect)
• I have no red yarn in my stash to make a last minute scarf
• (at Wal Mart later that day) Maybe there's some kind of red yarn here that I wouldn't hate using for the Red Scarf Project
• (still at Wal Mart) There is not one skein of red yarn here that I would use for the Red Scarf Project
• (...still) Hm.  There is some natural colored Lion Wool here.  I know it takes dye.

Two skeins of wool and a few drops of RIT DYE later, I had some yarn that I believe falls in the red family.

I swatched.

And swatched.

And kept thinking of this "hugs and kisses" scarf.... x's and o's.... where had I seen it.  WHERE had I seen it??

I kept swatching.  For an entire evening.  At least five different attempts.  I tried Scarf style - nothing really worked with this yarn.  And there were already so many Irish Hiking Scarfs in Norma's scarf photo gallery.  If only I knew where that x's and o's scarf pattern was. (I can hear many of you saying "DUH!")

Finally I remembered.... Hello Yarn!  Besotted!  The perfect pattern for this yarn... for this occasion.

When Norma nags I listen.  She tells about her Red Scarf Project Field Trip on her blog.  That post tells me that I've picked the right pattern.  And tells me that putting every other project on hold to knit this scarf was a good choice.  I'm going to start knitting red scarfs for next year as soon as I can.  :)

No, I'm not knitting in the attic now.  For some reason I thought it was a place to find good light.  If nothing else, at least it shows the pattern texture nicely.

For now it's time to get myself dressed and take the babies to Wichita for a Birthday Lunch with their Daddy!

Everybody have a great week!!  :)