The Beginning of Something Beautiful

I have now been working on my first cardigan sweater for a little more than a day and THIS is what I have to show for it. 6 rows of garter stitch plus 2 rows of the Mussel Stitch from this lovely little pattern:  http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/us/pattern.php?id=5033&lang=us .
And yes, I changed my mind about my shrug again. I just thought this was lovelier. And maybe a bit simpler. And I believe I may have been wrong about the latter statement! It took me starting this pattern three times, contemplating substituting cables for the mussel stitch and watching a YouTube video several times to finally get me on the right track! Anyway, I'm excited about how this will turn out.
FYI if anyone decides to partake in this pattern:

Oh! and another lovely little thing that is just beginning - I planted some herb seeds and they are sprouting! Here's a sprig of the basil I planted, compliments of Josh Michel, who clicked the shutter button on my little camera :) I am very much looking forward to throwing in some fresh herbs with some tomatoes and chicken!

I kidnapped my little brother and took him yarnshopping

Yep, that's what I did this morning. I had plans to meet a friend in downtown Coeur d'Alene. But when those plans fell through, I stopped by my family's house, knocked on my little brother's bedroom door and announced my intentions to kidnap him. He didn't object. He went right along. We were about a block and a half away from our destination when he actually asked me where we were going - The yarn store, of course :)
He said that he was gonna just sit in the car and play with his new shiny smartphone, but after much pleading (ok maybe just a little), I convinced him I really needed his eye for colors. So, my little brother accompanied my hour long jaunt at Harmony Yarn Studio.
I was going to buy yarn for a sweater, but decided that was A LOT of yarn to buy and that a shrug might be a better idea (less yarn and gives me good practice for all the shaping involved in knitting a sweater). After tedious unsuccessful searching for a shrug pattern on Ravelry on my own little nifty smartphone, the super nice store clerk let me search for one on the store computer. I settled on this Bolero. Pretty fabulous. So I bought the little pile of yarn I would need for it using a gift certificate and a little pile of cash. Got the yarn home this evening, took a picture of it, and decided on another pattern for it: Simple Raglan Cardi (Lion Brand pattern). Of course, the fact that it is not wound yet (I need to borrow my mom's ball winder for that) will keep me from starting this pattern until a little more progress has been made on my fingerless mitts I'm currently work on :)

yarn details: Plymouth Select Worsted Merino Superwash in "Rust"

I also subjected my little brother to this lovely song several times. 

Cause, well, it's amazing ~

Snowed in....

well, kinda.. There's a lot of snow out there. Not nearly enough to close down the city or anything... work, school, life still goes on. But I've found myself with two free evenings in a row - pure bliss. I've been able to cook, knit, play words with friends, facebook, drink coffee, visit with my roomies, text with my BSF ladies and work on uploading pretty pictures to my new, shiny photography website. Very exciting. Plus yesterday was my camera birthday!! I've had my camera for one year and it has changed my life. So to unveil my website at this time brings me great joy :)
Y'all should check it out!  ~  Erica Sonia Photography
I even have a gallery to showcase my knitting!!

My New Year's Resolution

It's just after 10:00 on a Wednesday. ALL of my clothing is either in my closet, in my chest of drawers, in my hamper or on me - the laundry baskets are empty, for the first time since I moved into this house!! Along with that, about half of my yarn is put away in my new cubbies. I feel at least one step closer to being truly organized. :)
I usually don't do New Year's resolutions. Who keeps them, really? If you have some great new idea for how to do or not do something, why wait till the New Year? Well, a good friend of mine posted a few on Facebook today (10 actually... she can be intense like that) and one really caught my eye as to how simple and impactful it would be: to not buy any clothes. Now, as much as I love shopping for new clothes, I've always held a lot of pride in the deals I've gotten -- always buy off the clearance rack at 70-80% off... BOGO sales ... loss leader sales. I refuse to spend tons of money for clothes. The prospect of not buying any new clothes at all struck me as interesting because it made me think of how much it might spark a new dynamic of creativity in my sense of style - in mixing and matching, mending, altering, making new clothes & accessories. Possibilities are endless. This might even be a new motivation in finishing some of my knitting projects ;)
So here goes... almost 5 days late in setting it, but at least I haven't broken it yet. I will not buy any new clothes this year - I will buy thrift store jeans only when necessary (I tend to wear through jeans a lot!!).
I believe this is tangible enough to actually stick to!

A Little Experiment

Happy New Year!!! First day of twenty twelve has been a pretty fabulous one indeed. I believe this may have been the laziest weekend I've experienced in a while.

So I decided to do a little experiment today. It was overcast - borderline boring when it comes to cloud formations. But it still had that beautiful silvery sheen floating across the sky. After meeting with a good friend and going grocery shopping, I decided to go back to that one spot I shot pictures on Friday. I wanted to see if I could still take a lovely picture :) and that, I did. When it comes to capturing God's light - there's a fine line between waiting on God to reveal His glorious majesty and just searching for and finding it in everyday details. I have to admit, that line is still one big mystery to me. Kind of an exciting one.


"It is the glory of God to conceal things, 
   but the glory of kings is to search things out. 
As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth, 
   so the heart of kings is unsearchable." {Proverbs 25:2-3}


So after that little excursion, I came home, brewed up some deliciously strong dark roast coffee and got out my Monkey Fingerless Mitts I've been working on. I've been ignoring this project because I got to the inevitable thumb gusset part and have just been procrastinating. I really want to wear these mitts at work though, so I can't hold off too much longer. Hopefully the left hand will work up faster than the right hand :) and for the record - this is only my second attempted project with this specific yarn - Alpaca Direct's very own 90% baby alpaca 10% silk blend.