Just cold and having a bear of a time getting Sam to go outside and  ”take care of business.”  Can’t blame him. Have you seen the weather?  

The sweater and I have been having a “time-out” – at Ellen and Naomi’s suggestion I will bring it to Madrona so that I have some hand holding while I give it the old college  try, again.

Speaking of Madrona, I’ve been dyeing, but not updating…. stashing things away to take with me. However, I will have a tiny update later this week. And, I’ll have an enormous update and exciting announcements upon my return. How’s that for leaving you hanging?

**Edited to add**

In the past 12 hours I have received this email message three times:

The domain thepluckyknitter.com (plucky) has reached 80% of its bandwidth limit (1608.59/2000.00 Megs).   !! Do not respond to this message. Your reply will go nowhere. !!

Anyone out there care to venture a guess as to what this means? Sounds sort of ominous to me.

Let’s start with the good, shall we?

It was a great mail day.   A few weeks ago I sent Regina  some tangled up yarn and look what she sent me? A little Barbie sized sweater knit out of Plucky merino fingering weight yarn. It’s so cute I can hardly stand it.

And, I won a contest that Jill of Knitterella fame was having on her site  - if you haven’t seen her adorable tags and knitting/crochet note cards well, you must – you are in for a treat!

Ok. Now for the not so good. The bad. No,  just plain  ugly.

Buttony Sweater.  Love  Emily’s version. And this version. And this.  

I swatched. Good. Got gauge. Great. Cast on. Only had to rip and start over twice. Began knitting away…….. went to “try on.”

See that seam? Yep, that one. So, so not suppose to be there.  

And it looked like I had made three arm sections. As near as I can tell, I was increasing at a marker that I had no business increasing near. Thus the extra seam or arm looking section. I think….. If anyone has a suggestion or solution… I am all ears.

Now, I am off to lick my wounds. Surely I’ll go back and try again. But, until then…. I’m knitting socks. Maybe I can have a new pair of socks to wear to Madrona.

Beth  - this is for you: Sam, cuddling up in front of the heater, lounging about on the clean laundry.

He’s dying, simply dying, to go outside and play, but it’s way too cold for his little Boston feet.

Can Jean and Liz419 contact me, please. I have something for you…..

Monica and Mick  both included me in theirs list of blogs that make their day. Thank you ladies!

“Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.”

There are  many, many  sites that I visit frequently but I can’t list them all (got to follow the rules). So, without further ado, I give you my list of site that totally make my day:

Here they are, in no particular order~

1. Kirsten from Through The Loops. What a talent. Can she whip up the patterns, or what?

2. Carrie at Sommer Designs. The zeal with which she has taken up knitting is infectious. That, and I totally sympathize with her “what to make for dinner” angst she’s been having.

3. Susan –  of Itty BittyHats fame. I think my love of knitting baby hats (or hats in general) is pretty well established.  I have, by far,  knit more of Susan’s patterns than any other. She’s so whimsical – love that.

4. Veronique- I envy her love of knitting math – I  aspire to be a knitter just like her.

5. Lolly, of course Lolly. Her enthusiasm for knitting, reading, traveling and, well, life lovely. What a talent.

6. MLE – They way this girl cranks out the sweaters is truly impressive. Have you seen the latest?  How cute is that?  In fact, I was actually awake at 2:00 a.m. (thanks Sam)  today thinking about Emily’s sweater and into my head popped this yarn that I have had in my stash  for over a year now. Hmmm…. For some reason this sweater pattern doesn’t scare me as much as some of the others. Perhaps because the pattern is pretty vauge and I can botch it up any way I choose?

7. Dee- Ahh, Dee. She the very reason, ok, maybe not reason, but the very person who pushed me to start The Plucky Knitter. Thank you Dee!

8. Megan – Everything she knits is artwork. And, I want her stash.

9. Amanda- I’ve learned so much from you….. thank you!

10.  Nora. Eye Candy. Enough said.

Phew! That was tough keeping the list to just 10.

Well, you are probably wondering who won the contest? Before I get to that, what can I say except – Thank you. Thank you for the congratulations, compliments and best wishes.    What a year it has been!  

While there was no entry that hit the number spot on, there were some pretty close guesses. Who was the closest you ask? (**insert drumroll here**) ~

Liz419

Liz  - please leave a comment or email me with your contact information.

And, because it was my one year anniversary, because there were so many entries  and, well, because I can – I decided to randomly pick another entry for a second  yarn-y give away.

Becky  - Again, please leave a comment or email me with your contact information.

Again, thanks to everyone for playing along. That was fun!

Chocolate Monkey – By Trev (minus the banana liquer)

13 questions

Saw this on  Phoe’s  site today and thought it would be fun to play along (what else is there to do when it is snowing, blowing and  5 degrees  fahrenheit  outside?  I would start my new socks, but, believe it or not, I actually need another pair of needles… so off to the LYS tomorrow to pick those up.)  and swiped it.

I actually do have some knitting (charade socks) to talk about, but it’s kind of depressing. We’ll get to that later – it has something to do with the Monkey and a game of cards.

1. Childhood ambition:
Be one of the Judd’s (which is funny, as I am not a big country music fan)

2. Best/worst weather:
Love a great storm. Dark skys, gusty winds. Too much sun is kind of irritating. Although the first days of Spring are always a thrill.

3. Favorite food:
It’s a seasonal thing for me.

• Fall/Winter – Apple Crisp and a good thick stew and crusty bread
• Spring – Fresh asparagus – grilled slightly or on a pizza.
• Summer – Fresh tomatoes and basil with just about anything.

All year ’round. Ice Cream.

4. Current book?
Um. A little embarassed to admit this, but I just finished reading  (unabridged audio)  Rhett Butler’s People. I fully expected to hate it. Instead, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

5. Guilty pleasure:
North And South on DVD (boy that is some pure cheese entertainment).

6. One quirk?
Just one? Impossible. For starters – I sleep with scarves on and I cannot eat a sandwich without completely tearing it apart first to inspect how it was made.

7. Something you’ve never done that most people have:

Eat bananas. Only got as far as banana flavored cereal. Stopped there. HATE them.

8. Favorite drink?
Coffee in the a.m. and water the rest of the day.

9. Oddest job you’ve had:
When I was first out of school I was an assistant at the county substance abuse clinic. Actually had to watch the people (female’s that is) deposit their court ordered  um, samples, in  a cup.

10. Last song you listened to on purpose:
Good People by Jack Johnson

11. Cities, towns, villages you’ve lived in, in chronological order:
Michigan, Michigan and Michigan.

12. Teenage ambition:
To become a historian (i.e. Doris Kearns Goodwin, minus the plagarism issue) or a history professor. That way Tom Brokaw could interview me on the Nightly News. Or, I also wanted to work at an auction house such as Sotheby’s or Christies. Hey- a  girl can dream.

13. Movie you’d most like to be a character in:
There are so many.   Rear Window – loved Grace Kelly’s wardrobe. Perfect. Or To Catch A Thief.  

If you haven’t already, don’t forget to enter the contest. Entries accepted through midnight tonight.

Bingley Wallpaper – 50/50 Silk Merino Lace  

Olive Oil – 2ply Cashmere

Manhattan – Merino Fingering

There is a bit of everything. Cashmere, 50/50 silk merino lace, merino single ply fingering, some merino cashmere DK weight… And if I can get Mr. Plucky to temporarily fix my skein winder/yarn meter I will have some merino superwash fingering and sportweight to list also.

Also, if you haven’t already, be sure play along with the contest in yesterday’s post…. not only is a skein of cashmere up for grabs, but there will be some other goodies as well.