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CelticCastOn Designs has now been updated!!!

4 more sleeps!

Yes 4 more sleeps to go and Moosey will be home!!! We are BOTH counting down the days. He's gonna have to come see me at work though when he gets home cause I'll be there when he arrives. No telling what I might do when I see him :) I told him to watch out cause I'm gonna football tackle him from the knees :)

This past week I've recieved a few things that have cheered me up!
One I recieved a package from Kelli aka Knitter Bunny. She had a contest for her birthday and her beautiful dog Beau picked ME! She sent me some absolutely AWESOME sock yarn.
Sock can you please show them the goods!

*well I would but I kinda like lying on this green stuff that makes a noise!*

Well while Sockies is getting ready to show you the goods I also decided to get my hair cut.
I've been toying with the idea of bangs for YEARS now and have never bit the bullet and gone ahead with it. Well Friday night, I bit the bullet!!

What do you think??? Most people at work have said they prefer me with them so we'll have to wait and see what Moosey thinks. I did send him a picture but he says he has to see it in person.

Ok Sock, show them some yarny goodness.

*sniff sniff* ahhhh YES this is the one mum, cause it smells like BUNNIES!!!! This funky mailer was leaning up against my door when I got home from a close shift. Fab thing to come home to. So Kelli sent me 2 skeins 550 yards each of Fearless Fiber 100% superwash merino sock yarn in colourways Mermaid and Marakesh! I'd never heard of this yarn before but ohhhhh I can't wait to knit with it. YUMMMY! Now the ball in the far right is two skeins of Mohair send by Sarah from Knit for the Dutchians . My name was randomly drawn for a prize from all the knitters. It was sooo funny when I opened the package the mohair was in a ziplock bag and when I took it out it looked like mini beret's, flat as pancakes. I tried to get Sock to model a beret for you but she was having none of it. The mohair was quickly taken away before she could attack it. No idea's what I'm going to use it for yet but it will join the stash and wait until it is called.

I went christmas shopping on the weekend and got a good bit finished and wrapped. I also have a surprise for Moose when he comes back! Our tv in the basement died before he left but I found a great deal on a new one this weekend. Its all set up and waiting his arrival :)

The knitting front as severely been lacking. I'm about to turn the heel on my sock, but that is all I have accomplished during these two weeks. I'd like to tackle my tweed cardi today but when I came down the stairs I realised what a disaster the house is in so if I have time after tidying today I may start on it.

celticcastondesigns is going to have some new stuff added today so stay tuned for the goodies.

bored!

* humph I want my daddy!!! I'm not speaking to you till he comes home*

Sock and I have been missing Moose alot. Its just not the same around here. There has been very minimal knitting going on. I ripped back my second sock to just before the leg shaping because I couldn't remember where I was in the pattern *DOH* and i'm about half way up the leg. Other than that I haven't touched any other project. I just don't FEEL like knitting. I don't really feel like doing anything. My friend at work and I are on total opposites all this week so I really am all by myself. She works when I'm off and I work when she's off, so looks like its just me and the Sock in it for the long haul. I think Sock is totally punking me off too, all she's done in lie upstairs as if she's ignoring me. Frankly I think she's ticked that Moose isn't around for her to lie on. If you could hear the conversations he has with her lol I'll be sitting at the computer and I'll hear "GEEZ Woman, will you give me some space!!" That would be the comment made as Sock realizes he's sitting down and she jumps up to sit on him once again eheheh Honestly they are soooo funny together.

My fetching's have been done, for quite some time, but since Sock can't hold the camera up to take the pics you'll have to wait till Moose returns to see the final pics.

I got some new charms in yesterday and I'm still awaiting more so I'll be posting new markers in a day or two.

I hauled out my garland for around the deck yesterday and attempted to staple it on...... but of course the staples just don't want to stay in. My only solution was to buy some floral wire at work and wire it on. Anyone else have any brain waves??? Sock loves to chew on the garland....... can't wait to put it on the bannister to the basement. She'll be sitting on the stairs all day just chewing on it. She jumped every time I said her name last night to get her to stop chewing it. She'll have it ripped to shreds in no time I'm sure.

The WIP Basket!

This morning when I sat down with my tea and pop tarts to read my blogs I didn't have anything to blog about...... as is the story of my life. I'm very quiet in person and am quite content to have silence all day. It annoys me that Moose has to have the radio on when he's home all the time, he even leaves it on for Sockies when he goes out............. *says she asks him to leave it on for her(rolls eyes)* Me I'd just rather have the silence. Weird I may be but thats just my preference. So when Moose informed me he was going on a guys vacation without me *hangs head* without me???? But we haven't been appart for more than a 12 hour shift in the almost 2 years we've been married and you're telling me your leaving me for 2 weeks??????
I get to stay home and go to work *throws confetti* and meanwhile you'll be sunning yourself on some beach somewhere..... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!
Until this morning I was less than thrilled to be home by myself for 2 weeks but reading Margene's blog this morning got me in a knitting mindset and I think I'm ready to get things done. On Margene's post this morning she talked about finishing up projects that are on the needles and starting a new project fresh on New Years Day. Well heck that sounds great to me, but can I really do it???
What on earth am I talking about??? I've got two whole weeks with no husband and nothing to do, heck i should be able to do it. But finishing my projects is not the only thing I plan to get done. I want to secretly finish the painting of the basement that was started oh so long ago for when Moose gets back as well as finish all my christmas shopping. Think I can do it???? We're gonna go for it and see what I can accomplish.
So for WIP's that are in my basket at the moment are:

1. Second Socktoberfest sock- currently I am on the leg decreases
2. Butterfly - ohh poor butterfly is still on the border from Amazing Lace
3. Tweedy Aran Cardi - I frogged that thing 3 times yesterday and I'm still at the same spot.
4. Potomaus socks - I don't know if these will get finished or not but I'd like figure out what I did wrong and finish those dang socks.
5. Ruby - the pink tank I made that was waaaay too small. Plan to make a larger size

Think thats if for the time being, now if it wasn't for work I could start rocking this list now!


Now on to stitch markers. I've been keeping busy with custom orders. I have about 10 at the moment that I'm just waiting for the product to arrive so I can get them made and out to everyone. I've put together a page where I will have pics of all the stitch markers I make and if I have any available or not. I don't have it all set up yet but the page is here
These are some new markers I've been making but don't have on the page yet.


The colours are hard to capture but the far left are purple and the 4 right are black. These circles can be accented with any of the fiber optic beads I carry *with new colours on the way*



Here's an example of a green one complete. The green is much better than this in person, I just can't seem to get a good picture of it.
So a set of 5 are $7.50. Again any colour beads and size rings you desire.
Email me at celticcastonatrogersdotcom if you'd like to order some.

The art of making a rose

THE ROSE
The lily has a smooth stalk,
Will never hurt your hand;
But the rose upon her brier Is lady of the land.

There's sweetness in an apple tree,
And profit in the corn;
But lady of all beauty Is a rose upon a thorn.
When with moss and honey
She tips her bending brier,
And half unfolds her glowing heart,
She sets the world on fire.

~Christina Rossetti

Now you're probably all thinking I thought she said she didn't like flowers???? And I don't but that doesn't mean I don't see the beauty in them. How each petal is delicately made and how they grow and bloom into fantastic colour. But flowers...... they just aren't my thing. You will not see a flower in my house, save maybe an orchid, they haveno smell, pretty much grows on its own, plain and simple. I don't like the smell of flowers, ESPECIALLY easter lillies *barf* boy do they ever smell awful. But I'm not going to get into all the negatives, flowers just aren't for me.

Well in our cake decorating class when she told us we were going to be learning how to make a rose I thought fabulous...... I looooooooooooooooooooove flowers...................... not. But I did want to learn how to make them on a cake so that if there was someone who did like them in need of a cake I could do it without a second thought.

The rose she tells us is the hardest flower in the course to learn...... right right thats why they put it in course ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *shakes head*
We had been learning the rose step by step each week, first the base, then the base and the middle petal but the third night was when we added all the other petals to make it complete.
Well that went a little south for me. I had been working all day before the class so had my icing in the fridge at work, so when i brought it out it was very stiff and hard to work with. Everyone else that night was just banging off roses, while I was just trying to get my icing to squeeze out without my hands shaking.
I left that night being the only one that couldn't make a rose and was quite frustrated. I had the whole weekend before the last class where we had to bring 6 premade roses to decorate our cake with so I figured I could work on it then.
Well you know how weekends are. I ended up only having half an hour to get making this rose down pat and make 6 of them. I left my icing out on the counter that morning so that my hands wouldn't be shaking like a leaf trying to squeeze icing out.
I sat down and off I went.

I practiced and practiced, saving all the roses so that I could see my progress and actually SEE that I was doing better with each one. Once I got the hand motion for the petals right they started to become better.
Add to that the turning on the nail head and you've got ROSE ACTION!
Notice the picture above, the small rose on the bottom was one of my first roses, and the one closest to the pencil was one of my last. CHA CHING!!!!

We had rose action. And although I knew I could have perfected each and every one of them if I had more time to practice I took my 6 best and let them harden.

The night of the class I was taking them out of the oven, *note* if you set them on a tray in your oven with the light on for a few days it will harden them :) and Moose looked at them and said "WOW Donk, those are really good!" *insert wide grin* For Moose to notice and comment made the night. But it got better. After the class was over, and we had our cakes decorated i was talking to the instructor saying how horrible I did the first night we tried to make them and that I was the only one who couldn't do it. Her reply was, and yours turned out to be the nicest of the bunch!

CHA CHING! A successful attempt at making a buttercream Rose!

*addtional note* I know my cake is all different colours and nothing matches but i didn't want to make new icing and have all the previous stuff go to waste so I used up what I had. After all its all about the Process..... right Margene??

Kitties Kitties Kitties!

Chappysmom is having a contest. Show her your november calendar page and you could win a yarny prize! Well Chappysmom, over here at Celtic land its all about the kitties. I have 3 calendars and all three have furry little faces on them.
First we have the desk calander. A kitty for everyday of the year!!
The second is the calander in my kitchen, all sleeping kitties awwww I love this one!
And number 3 is a special gift from my mum's bf. She sent it from Ireland and the name of the calendar is Kelly's Cats puuuurfect! They are paintings of all Kelly's cats too cute!
Now I have been knitting, somewhat slowly but it has been happening. The only time I've had to knit at the minute is on breaks at work, or what breaks I get... *grumble*
I picked up a ball of Louisa Harding at the LYS last week and immediately cast on for a pair of fetchings. The Louisa Harding has angora in it and is incredibly soft, they won't be the warmest things in the world but they will be DANG cute :)
Because I have small little hands and I wanted them to be snug I used US3's. The pattern calls for US4 but I didn't have any, and 5's were way to big. One down one to go.

I actually have a 3 day weekend coming up........ that is unheard of for me so I hope to enjoy somje time with Moose, can you believe we have all three days off together????? CRAZY! Hopefully I'll get some knitting in too!

PSSSSSSSSSST!!! Can you keep a secret????

This is one of Moose's christmas presents! A girl I work with does amazing things with clay. She took a shadow box that you would put a baseball in and made a mini version of all the framing staff. It is the cutest thing ever with their little aprons on :)
Sooooo I asked if she would be willing to make me a mini Moose and fire truck for Moose for christmas. She said yes right away and has been working on this for a while now. I sent her a picture of a ladder truck, because if you are a Fire Fighters wife, all you hear about is how awesome "ladder" trucks are. This is what she came up with.


Awww little Mini Moose, it even has his number on his helmet! Its sooo incredibly small I don't know how she ever did it.

The truck is soo detailed. She copied all the little dials and nobs etc on the side of that truck its amazing.
I think Moose will be dead impressed at how well she did that truck!

*grumble grumble* Blogger!!!!

Fingers crossed blogger is accepting posts this morning......... *nough said*

So I've been a busy bee the last few days! With knitting, charm making, posting, shoppping.
I had a request for some ferret stitch markers, so a hunting I went and found these little cuties!
This set is a custom order for the Crafty Weasel she has 5 ferrets *how perfect is that* and 5 stitch markers in the set. I hope she likes them.
If you have a request, please let me know, I'd do what I can to find you the perfect charms for your stitch markers. Is there a breed of pet you'd like, your occupation maybe, or how about another hobby other than knitting you'd like to have as stitch markers. Make your request to celticcaston at rogers dot com. Also keep an eye out for some new styles of markers coming in the next post!

Now I said I was also busy shopping...... Christmas shopping that is. It is time to start :) I've got two presents bought and wrapped for mister Moose and hid where he hopefully can't find them. I loooove buying for other people, its soo much fun!

This has also been knitting, weaving and sewing on buttons at top speeds. The postal date for the dutchians baby shower is today, and *phew* I got these last two sweaters complete with buttons done last night around 8 o'clock. Talk about cutting it close. They are off to the post office today.
One of the reasons I was cutting it sooo close with the baby sweaters was that I kind *looks around innocently* might have maybe cast on for my tweedy aran cardi when I should have been sewing up sweater........ WHAAAAAAAAT?????? I couldn't help it, its was giving me the stare down and I just couldn't TAKE it anymore!!!! I'm so glad I did though. The ribbing on this cardi is called a twisted rib, its a very interesting and fun pattern to knit. Once I started it I just couldn't stop. I have just begun the cable pattern wooo hooooo and by the sounds of it I'll get a little bit more done on sunday :) Roll on the weekend!