200th post.

Well, I've finally done it. I've reached the 200th post mark. You almost have to celebrate. I figure that if you average 20 minutes per post...that's about 66.77 hours, or 4,000 minutes, or even 240,000 seconds of writing and uploading pictures!!!

Before you just look at the pretty pictures in the rest of the post....I was wondering who was going to the Midwest Fiber Fair (Crystal Lake, IL) this weekend??? I know of a couple of people who are already going...and If you all want to meet up, it would be pretty sweet to meet some of you in person, and buy some stuff! If you live in the area, I would highly suggest you go. This is their second year in the making, and they had tents and tents of heavenly knitting/crocheting things: yarn, rovings, needles, dyes, stuffed sheep/alpaca, jewelry, spinning wheels/drop-spindles, and anything else you could possibly thing of!!!

I plan on going Friday afternoonSaturday morning (they are only open late on Friday)...so drop a note by, if you wanna meet up and walk around to shop!

35 NEW Things I have learned since my first post:
1. designing my own bag ("All Twisted Up").
2. knitting my first sweater(the [not so] "3-hour sweater")
3. feltingthe first time (a clutch gone wrong).
4. Designing an inspirationalknit sweater.
5. designing my first sweater using my own noggin' ("Vintage Plum").
6. designing my own clutches from my "berry collection." The red one was from my "rasberry" collection.
7. designing & knitting my first top-down raglan.
8. Probably "following" my first knitting instructions for the "fake-a-gamo"...which I had to decipher and re-write because the instructions were "shortened" and confusing.
9.designing my own shrug.(the "Rose Shrug.")
10. designing $5 in Paris, one of the most popular top-down raglans for beginners on craftster.org.
11. designing and knitting my first washcloth, "the Unique Basket weave Cloth."
12. designing and knitting my first tanktop, "Amorè tanktop."
13. designing and knitting my first baby booties.
14. designing and knitting my first fingerless gloves,"Be Speckled."
15. designing and knitting my first raglan tee.
16. designing and knitting with fabric, "the Lightning-fast slippers."
17. My first granny-squares.
18. Knitting with REAL sockyarn for the first time. OH, and size 1 needles!!! (Hey, there's a concept!)
19. dyeing yarn for the first time.
20. designing and knitting my first skirt, "the Beach bum," created for the "self-conscious person" like me...when I went to the Dells.
21. spinning for the first time. On the drop-spindle.
22. designing and knitting my first sock pattern that has an actual pattern to it ("Joe's Office Socks").
23. designing my first lace sock pattern, "Candied Love" (version 1).
24. designing and knitting my first fingerless glove pattern with the cut-off fingers on it. ("Snuggles Fingerless Gloves.")
25. designing and knitting my first sock patternwith cables. ("Simply Ginny Socks.")
26. designing and knitting my first lace shawl"("the Cabin Shawl.")
27. designing and knitting my first beret. ("Gracie.")
28. designing and knitting my first cardigan, "the Infiniting Cardigan," (although I frogged it later on).
29. designing and knitting my first bag holder." ("The Quickie Bag Holder.)
30. Making my own stitch-markers.
31. Making my own jewelry(remember the owls?).
32. designing and knitting my first afghan, "The Ripple Reading Afghan."
33. design and knit my first table place-mat.
34. Start my first sockclub(the "Great Gatsby Club" was first), on the theme of reading the "classics."
35. Spinning my first yarn on my spinning wheel.

WOWIE! I really thought I'd only have like 15 things...that goes to show you have much you can do in under two years! Most of my designing was from the first year...which was in college. Those were the "golden" years, I guess. Now I'm a good-for-nothing knitter who rather read! lol.
NO...I've got some new designs in the process already.

So ok, on to some knitting stuff!

Here's what the "Dracula" club also got in their packages...my "Vamp City" sock pattern, along with their "survival kit" against the vamps (garlic and a stake!). It's a little like my "Creature from the Black Lagoon" pattern, but I changed up the lace pattern a bit, and added some ribbon flare!

I planted a garden this week:

From left to right: rosemary, Greek oregano, sweet basil, cactus plants, and another wee-bit of my "chandelier" cactus plant.

I've also been cooking/baking lately. Above is a chicken & potato stew, and below is some blueberry scones!

Some more unleavened bread/"everything crackers" above, and my dinner tonight below, "Southwestern salad"....with seasoned turkey, corn, tomatoes, cilantro, lettuce, and some spicy ranch sauce. I am trying to cut back on the pop (even diet pop)...as I am now dieting officially.
Joe and I are spending 3 glorious days alone at the Kalahari Resort at the Dells (went with family last year), and I am officially working-out hard core...until we leave 4 weeks from now!!! I have been working out for three weeks now, and have only lost 4-5 pounds. This week, I have finally implemented "actually eating really healthy" to speed up the process. I want to wear a bikini, and not feel so self-conscious. Joe is still at school in Iowa, and I see him in 3 1/2 weeks. Hopefully I will look somewhat different to him when he gets back. I cannot wait until our vacation!!!

Here is what I just casted on: a really simple tanktop with a grande cable in the middle, and a V-neck. I'm using my Cascade cotton yarn and size 7US needles. This cotton yarn drapes very well, so I'm not even doing anything special for the edge. I swatched several inches prior to casting on for this, and the edge stayed put! Danke. Like I said, I'm leaving for the Dells in 4 weeks, so you know I'll end up doing something special for Joe with my red alpaca yarn that had to be frogged from the raglan I started (too itchy for my neck, dang-it!). It will really be sexy! Stay tuned for that! (On the bed is the book I'm currently reading. I had to stop A. Christie's At Bertram's Hotel. To my dismay, the book was really boring...and Miss Marple hasn't even done anything for 100 pages...out of a 212 page book! What a disappointment! it seemed like such a good book from the cover! lol.)

The next themed KUAS club is "Watching the movies": October (scary movie & fall colors), November, and December (maybe Harry Potter?)! I've already had some unofficial sign-ups for this one, so If you know you would like to be part of this club, just PM me on etsy...so I'll add your reserved item on etsy in September. Otherwise, I am taking suggestions for movies in those months at any time! (the KUAS clubs will remain awesome and the most affordable knitting club around!)

Thanks for listening to my rambling for 200 posts! I appreciate every comment, and every new view of my blog! Thanks a bunch guys! You are the ones that make it worth-while to post!