I cannot believe the amount of unfinished stuff I have! But, the past few days, I finished some of them.

BRISA, from Knitty.com. Pardon the picture. The sides and hemline got skewered a little when I blocked it and it dried up that way. This is perfect for those who have chiseled abs and upper arms (which I don't have) but I will wear it anyway (he, he).


The lacy hemline really works. It's breezy! It goes up to the 100's here in Sac in the summer. The actual color is not as dull as the picture shows. It's a bright lime green (kiwi) color, and I used only 2 skeins of Cotton Fleece from Brown Sheep.


More squares for the 63 square afghan CAL. Shell on the bottom left, Basketweave on top, and Star square on the bottom right. The star stitch is unbelievably easy. Will start on my 9th square soon. I wonder which one it will be?

Will be on a mini vaction from Wednesday to Saturday. Off to Monterey.

I have finally started the 63 squares Knit-Along. Here are some of the pictures.


3 more squares. As you can see, I'm not crocheting the squares in any particular order. I've bypassed the first few squares because they're too basic. I actually started with square #63, cables, which I really really liked. I can see a beautiful alpaca scarf out of that square.

I'm on my 6th square. I look at the pictures, pick the one I like, and start crocheting. 63 and 56 are so far on top of my list of favorites. I'm not very original with the colors either--lol!

This is one of Mary McCall's latest design that I am testing. And I must say, I love the pattern.


Here is another version of the same pattern. I tell you, it's a 2 for 1 pattern which will soon be available as soon as we finish testing the pattern.


I have so many pictures already uploaded in my picturetrail site and I will load them here one at a time. There was a coin purse I designed and the latest Cast On Faroese Shawl which I'm knitting with Red Heart's TLC Amore, in pink! woo hoo!

And thanks, Donna for the reminder that I have to start my 63 squares afghan--lol! I'm the number one procrastinator and Startitis sufferer.

I do really enjoy reading my fellow crocheter's blogs. I find myself reading them first before anything else. I find myself heading to Julie, the Yarngirl's blogsite and enjoying her beautiful crocheted works.

What's the deal with pink?

Everywhere I look, I see pink. My teen DD used to hate pink, "Too girly", she says. Now, she craves it. I wonder how long this fad will last? And I thought the Eyelash Scarves trend was a fad but it's still here.

I found the loveliest cotton/wool sock yarn and it seems to be discontinued. Cleckheaton Nature wool/cotton yarn. I Googled all over the 'net, even the Cleckheaton website. Nada. Found some on Ebay but got outbid. Well, hey, I'm only willing to pay so much on yummy yarn, no matter how yummy. I'm addicted but I'm not stupid--lol!

You see, I'm testing a sock pattern for Mary at Wool and Fiber Originals and she sends me this wool/cotton yarn that's absolutely stretchy and like butter to knit with. It looks so good with her pattern which is also turning out great. If you haven't visited her website, do it now. Lace shawl patterns, Lace and Gansey style sock patterns, lace bookmarks, and lots of freebie patterns too.

Okay, I'm off to crochet another miniature teddy bear.

I finished one sock of the Broadripple Knit Along. I can't get motivated to cast on the second one. Go figure!


I finished this pair instead. I fell in love with Noro Kureyon, and as a spinner, I know I can spin that type of yarn too. Kureyon is single ply. My yarn is 2 ply for strength. I was able to spin 2 similar skeins (or so I thought they were) by lining up the colors. The socks didn't turn out identical and I didn't want to show the other sock. This one is enough. It's warm and toasty though.





Before and after. Or, After and Before. This was from white Gems Merino sock yarn I bought from Needletrax.com. I handpainted it with my favorite jeweltone colorway and knitted a sock. It reminds me of Koigu.

Felting disaster? Maybe not...

I laugh everytime I see this bag. This was meant to be felted booties. I used my own handspun wool and I should have realized that it would be too wide for my feet while I was knitting it. But no! I had to follow the pattern to the letter. I was still too chicken to make changes and adapt the pattern to my size.

But, being very frugal (I slaved over this thing!), I couldn't throw it away. So....., I turned it into a shoe/bag purse. I will eventually use them (I have 2 of these, he, he) one of these days, maybe when I go to Stitches or one of those fiber fairs, where like-minded people like me will probably understand.







Red Line Chicago bag: I finished this one weeks ago and just had a chance to take pics, even though it's kinda dark. Theresa's patterns are very easy to follow and can be seen here.

Progress, no pics

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! I'm still knitting but haven't been blogging.

I'm 80% done with the Brisa top from Knitty. Found some errors in the pattern but I knitted on. Almost done with my hubby's socks out of Confetti yarn that I've had for 2 years now.

Finished one Broadripple sock but haven't cast on the 2nd one yet. I tell you, I have way too many projects going on.

This will be a busy month. Have to do the homeschool grades for my kids, SATs for the oldest one, Crochet Guild meeting, doctor's and dentist's appointments and a Homeschool field trip to Monterey (3 days) at the end of the month.

I have to find some LYS addresses in the MOnterey area. I have to be prepared!

I'm Vicki

People call me Susan. Everytime I post a message on any of the lists I belong to, I get a reply and they call me Susan. It's a pretty name but it's not mine--lol!

When people see my last name, Suan, they assume I mispelled it and forgot to type the other "S". It's Suan and pronounced like the bird, "swan". But then again, I go by Vicki.

One time, I did a Google search for Suan and came up with lots of entry for people from Thailand. We're Filipinos, from the tropical island of the Philippines in Southeast Asia. I'm not surprised though. The Phillipines has been conquered by so many other countries that it would be hard to trace ones heritage.

Before the Spaniards came, I know there were Chinese and Malays in the country. The Spaniards stayed for 300 years, then came the Japanese ( WW II), and then the Americans.

My native country has been called a Melting Pot. But enough of history and back to knitting.

It's me, Vicki.

The start of the Broadripple socks using red Fixation yarn. I had to reduce my CO to 42 stitches to accomodate my skinny legs.



Lace fingerless mittens I'm designing out of handspun merino/alpaca.

How many times do I have to tell myself,"DO NOT start another project until you finish the old ONES!" But do I listen?

Well, I finished the Optim Day Lily socks for Soysilk (a record breaking 3 days), so I started 3 more projects.

I've joined the Rogue revolution. I don't normally knit sweaters (I call them BIG projects) because I don't normally finish them (I get bored) but what the hey, this one looks pretty. And I've got enough Briggs and Little Heritage yarns to complete one.

I'm doing a knitted lace fingerless mitt (my own design) from fine handspun merino/alpaca yarn (my own blend). I'm 90% finished with the one mitt.

I've joined the Broadripple KAL, 40% progress on one sock.

I've also joined the 63 Squares Crochet afghan KAL (again, another HUGE project) which is soon to start (or have we started already?).

50% done on the Brisa tank top from Knitty.

Did I say 3?

Don't you just love teddy bears? This little guy sits at 2.5", crocheted using size 3 Pearl cotton thread. Crocheting teddies is one of my passions that I've neglected lately, with all the socks I've been knitting. I still can't make cute teddy faces. Got to practice more.




Here's a lace sock I knitted for Soysilk yarns using their latest cashmere-like yarn called Optimum (Optim - stretched Merino wool to the fineness of cashmere). It's hard to let go of these socks. It's like knitting with butter. I'm mailing them back to Jonelle today so she can send them to Vogue Knitting. Wouldn't it be nice to see my knitted sock in the magazine?