World Coffee Asheville

This oasis of peace is where my friend Lizabee and I meet fairly regularly to knit and hang out. The coffee is pretty decent and the goodies qualify as cake pron. Pictured here are coconut cupcakes and strawberry shortcake. Fru, do I win anything for posting cake pron? I'm hoping it will lure you to Asheville!

Etc

I think I am blogging just as an excuse to post this picture of Mini Purl in her summer dress. Which I bought today at Etc. Consignment Shoppe. They have a pretty good selection of clothes and shoes for women and some good books. I was able to get a few good pairs of shorts for son #2 and a few shirts, bathing suits and sandals. No website but the address is: 1500 Patton Ave Asheville, NC 28806 (828) 251-1160‎. Also, look at Purl's cute lil dress! AIiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Happy Towel Day!

It's a weird weekend, isn't it? I finally convinced the kids to turn off the Land of the Lost marathon. That show is so freaky. I can't WAIT to see the new version with Will Ferrel who is my future ex-husband.
I want to shout out to our Veterans, and say thank you for kicking ass on behalf of our country.
It's also Towel Day, so celebrate accordingly.
I'm busy planning the Ashevegas Tractors Retreat for my girls in June and it's getting pretty exciting. We have a yarn party planned for Friday night, and Saturday we might get to tour an Alpaca Farm as part of this weekend-long WNC Farm tour. We want to do a walking tour of the Grove and do the Woolworth Art Gallery, Earth Guild, Malaprops, and get our knit on. Then Sunday we will do a yarn swap and Lizabee has a special goodbye ceremony she's planning.
Meanwhile, I am slowly knitting my first toe-ups. Yay!

Cotlin Review

Yesterday Mini Purl went to the vet for her re-check. Little loaf of bread has gained a pound! Doc says it's her thyroid and she will feel even better on thyroid meds. Also we did xrays and her lungs are totally cleared of infection, doc said she's a totally different dog and that we saved her life. I was glad to hear it! Now she's scheduled for dental on Tuesday which means pulling her rotten teeth. Poor girlie.
In yarn news, I got a skein of Knitpicks Cotlin in blackberry and used some of it to whip out a Terry Pratchett Inspired Handkerchief thingey. I LOVE this yarn. It is soft yet strong, no splitting, smooth, and the blackberry color is like a deep dark purple. Fabulous. The pattern was a fun fast knit too, and would not look so crooked except Easter was in my lap (as usual) and leaped off at one point jerking all my stitches off the needles. Ya. So it's crooked. Now I want to get a crapton more of this exact color and make a summer tank or something. I'm also doing my first toe-up sock pattern and man, it is SO much more fun than cuff-down!

Ready for Guitarman

This weekend I managed to finish this pair of socks, although it was not easy with all the cute pug action going on. I mean, I walk into the bedroom and they have taken over! Jolly better not try to eat my socks. I'm casting on for the hub's birthday socks next, using a pattern my friend Cristi-Lael told me about called Guitarman.

Tasty Bumblebees

Well it was a good title. The pugs have been really intrigued lately with bees that fly through the house. This one was attacked and taken down by one of our smaller dust rhinos, then the pugs stalked it for awhile before they decided it was yummy and crunchy. Also pictured, Mini Purl kindly allowing us to scratch her belly. You can see the loaf(as in loaf of bread)has such a hard life here in Pug Castle. I got my Opal skeins and Malabrigo today, that I traded for, but Im so sad, the Opal is just solids, nothing exciting like Harry Potter or Rainforest. The Mal is purty though! I'm started on sock #2, and can't wait to finish up. Mr FUnky Monkey arrived today, the colors are just drooly. Am I making a bit of sense?

More Craft Stuff

I decided to embroider the doll face using the tutorial from WeeWonderfuls and I love how it turned out! All ready to go to Esme, my little online Shayna Punim.
I also finished the Baby Bolero from www.annieamelia.com, and yes Brenda I am going to wash it before I send it to Sophia since Easter is modeling it. LOL. I might do another one just for Easter since it was such a fun knit.

Naughty Barbie and Hoochie Mama Bratz

My friend Lulu invited me to join a barbie cake contest on Ravelry. I explained that I am a cake EATER not so much a cake decorator. Just to drive home my point I thought I would explain some things about Barbie. First of all, if I was going to do a barbie cake I'd use the "anti-Barbie" as my cake topper since I am pretty sure the model is based on my uh, zaftig form. Also, Barbie is not always so nice as you can see from the illicit mud-wrestling photo above. Then there's the day that slutty bratz doll kicked Barbie's ass. Of course I might still try to do the cake thing but only if I could get away with the barbie nun cake.

Doll Attempt

I'm going to post some pictures from this doll in progress, because I pretty much followed the directions here and the end result is so cute I think. Also, if you are either interested in dolls or you got sucked into the whirling vortex of Lulu's Dollywood swap, or both, this link is hugely helpful.

Good luck! I think this little girl may go to Esme after she gets a face.

Tractor Swag

My friend Kelle was my secret swapper in tractor swap and she sent me a huge box of awesome sauce. Her theme that she picked was black n white (for nuns) and she sent me two gorgeous skeins of Claudias handpainted sock yarn, candy, a beautiful Scarf, a doily, a cute crocheted horsey and well, look at all this stuff! I loved it. Surprises rawk. Thank you so much, Kelle!!!!! We all love it, the puggles are still chewing on their doggie toys. XOX

Bunneh

Mr Wiggly has inspired me. I got some cute baby clothes from Goodwill, and made this handmade version. I haz no sewing machine, so I'm hoping bunny looks ok. Mini Purl helped pick out his button eyes.

Mr Wiggly Sings Queen

Today I woke up and Mr Wiggly was in the yard, serenading me with Queen. I love living here. Let me explain. I’m not really awake in the mornings, so I step out the side door to look at the trees. Lately the birds have been so busy flying from the gutters to the trees building their nests and talking up a storm and I wanted to watch them. Instead I’m eyeball to eyeball with this natty bunny rabbit dressed in his best evening suit, not ten feet from me. He immediately began channeling Freddie Mercury, and I told him to please wait there while I got the camera. Being such a showboat he obliged me, and I snapped his picture. If you click on the youtube link you’ll get the exact effect of my morning. Beautiful view, fun wildlife with fabulous taste in entertainment. I was so inspired that I sewed on Miss Pink Floyd’s Purple ‘do. I don’t know where she got the tatoo though, we woke up this morning and she was complaining that her ass was on fire. At least it’s tasteful.

Ashevegas Herb Festival

We have a new sock monkey visitor! Miss Pink Floyd/ValenTina Turner, "America's Darling of Drag Divas" has arrived in style.Almost immediately upon meeting her, she announced that we were making an unplanned pitstop at the Asheville Herb Festival. She was savagely disappointed because "it wasn't THAT kind of herb festival" but she managed a few photo ops: She agreed to pose for one booth because the lady wanted her for a blog. Also, she posed with a banana tree, and some secksie sounding soaps that she wanted me to buy for her, something about "dirty old man" and "stud bubbles". She was not pleased when I bought lilac cream. When we evaded the cops and made it home without incident, she made friends with son #1's sock monkey, ironically enough named by unsuspecting son as Lola. *sigh*
Needless to say, we are all thrilled at her arrival and look forward to lots of exciting adventures! Anyone with suggested adventures for a transgender sock monkey please do let me know!