Baby Bear.

Last post about New Zealand, I promise!

It's been a recent "tradition" to buy local yarn when we travel and knit something using it as a memento of our trip. This trip wasn't an exception and there was an abundance of great yarn stores all along our route through NZ.

There are a lot of sheep in New Zealand, so I was surprised to find that the "true" New Zealand yarn is actually made from possum.  At first, I pictured the possums that we have in the U.S. and was kind of grossed out.  Fortunately, New Zealand possums are a slightly more palatable and look like this.:

So, I bought some possum yarn and knitted our way from town to town.  My favorite project for this trip was this little hat (modeled here by "Wolfie").

Why so little?  Because it's my first knitted project for this little guy coming in the Fall!

My mom has been a bit more industrious and has already made multiple baby blankets, some booties, and I think she's working on a sweater.  Needless to say, he'll be plenty warm for his first Winter...

Isle of Skye

Isle of Skye was just plain gorgeous.  We somehow managed to have some pretty spectacular luck in that it rained pretty consistently while we were driving, but once we got somewhere we wanted to walk and take in the sights, the sun came out.  

We were staying outside of Isle of Skye in Kyleakin so we had a short drive to get to Portree.  On the way, we somehow spotted some signage for a yarn store.  Given all of the sheep we had seen on our trip, I was surprised at how few yarn stores there were -- this was the first that we saw.  While I jokingly mentioned it to Jamie, he immediately turned into the driveway and we had a chance to take advantage of a pretty awesome find.  

I left with two big skeins of yarn from Scottish sheep (which had just been dyed the day before).  From those two skeins I made: (colors are a bit off in the pictures, but they were a light green and cream color)

This cowl...(which Man Boo so kindly modeled)

This kid-sized hat to donate to Kiki's Hats...

And this cat toy that is already pretty well-loved.

All-in-all, a pretty fortunate find!  We then continued our drive to Portree for lunch and some window-shopping.  A lovely little town!

Then we began some of our walking excursions.  Our first stop was Faerie Glen.  Which, if you ever find yourself in the Isle of Skye, I highly recommend.  It was pretty spectacular; Jamie proclaimed it the perfect "fairy tale" spot.  It kind of was:

Basically, it was a bunch of rolling hills that you could wander through using the paths that the sheep carved out.  There wasn't much to stop you from going wherever you wanted.

After Faerie Glen, we continued our drive north to Uig and the Quiriang.

Rather than climb the Quiriang (we were short on time and stamina), we hiked up Bioda Buidhe which offered us some pretty great views of Quiriang.

(For the record, Jamie is actually a lot higher up than it looks in these pictures, those tiny white specks are sheep )

And, finally as we made our way back south on the eastern side of the Isle of Skye, we stopped at Kilt Rock (you can see the kilts on the rocks in the distance -- past the falls).

Another glorious day in Scotland.

Ready to Pump [CLAP] You Up.

So, many posts ago, I told you all about the sweater that I had been knitting for Jamie since FOREVER ago. Well, I failed to mention that I actually did get around to completing it over a year ago. I had to wait around until my mom could sew the pieces together for me -- because I suck at sewing -- and it was then that the true misfortune that is my first sweater unveils itself.
Here is Jamie in a corny modeling pose. This is the angle that is most flattering for the sweater. It actually looks like something that he might wear in public. But, turn slightly to the right and you get an unfortunate view of gorilla arms. Somehow, the sleeves are uneven and have like twice as many stitches as they are supposed to. Consequently, Jamie's arms look huge. Almost like Hans and Franz's arms might look. Let's compare:





Yep. Hans and Franz.

With a different pose, Jamie has dreamy "princess shoulder poofs". As much as I might enjoy the thought of Jamie with princess poofs, I could not let him venture out into public with said poofs.


Fortunately, my mom graciously offered to remove the poofs with her knitting/sewing wizardry. At this point in the sweater's history I was through looking at it. You'll be happy to know that it is back in Jamie's hands where he can go on to make more goofy poses in it this upcoming winter. So ends the saga of my first sweater.

Jamie is a good sport for letting me photograph him in the sweater. What a catch.

I need an excuse.

As weird as it may sound: I knitted a poncho a couple of months ago. Even weirder is that I have actually worn it a few times. To tell the truth, I made a poncho because its easier than a sweater and because I felt that I should graduate beyond scarf.


Poncho with Cat Butt.

The thing about the poncho is that every time I wear the thing, I am roped into making another one. I think I have four on queue. Very exciting. Actually, I am excited. Easy and guilt-free.

Tagged.

Now it's my turn.

To tell you the truth, my reason for not posting lately was because I didn't have much to say beyond the cat. It's sad really...this cat has taken over my life. I also think Jamie loves the cat more than me now (meaning if he had to pick a friend to take on a deserted island, he'd pick the feline).

But, this post is not about the cat. This post about another sad and pathetic obsession of mine: yesterday, Jamie and I went to IKEA and purchased this...


Not so bad? Look at what's inside:



I am ill. To have so much yarn that one must puchase a separate piece of furniture to house all of the yarn is not healthy. But the cat was getting into all of the bags of it around the house, and I would forget the yarn I have stashed away in the closet. Unfortunately, I haven't progressed much at making stuff with said yarn. I just like to buy and fondle it...it just so purty.

I'm thinking of going to the yarn store later today.

Kick in the Rear.

In order to entice me to finally finish knitting his sweater, Jamie posed with the scraps.


Finish this sweater or else...

Right now I have the back completely done, and most of the front (just doing the shoulder). But the thought of sleeves makes me want to leave it as a vest. Then I think of Jamie in a sweater vest and I vow that this sweater will be done by the boy's birthday on December 19th. Or maybe our anniversary on the 22nd. Or maybe Christmas...whatever, it'll get done. (right??)

UGH. School tomorrow.