Teacher gifts...

Well folks... it's that time of year again, the end of another school year. What to do for teacher gifts is usually on my mind all year but I never decide until it's almost too late. Did the same thing again this year... until a friend (Kristen) mentioned doing market bags. Then another friend (Lisa) suggested filling it with summer goodies so I came home and searched Ravelry for beach bags. This is what I found:

Medano Beach Bag found at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/medano-beach, I don't see that she has her own website. The yarn I used is Hempathy from Elsebeth Lavold that I bought at Linda's Knit'n Stitch in Silverdale.

I'm really loving this yarn so far, we will see how much it stretches and how it wears. The pattern calls for stripes but I couldn't find colors in stock that I liked together so I'm going with a solid green for one teacher and a solid purple for the other. I eventually plan to make one for myself with stripes when I find the right colors. The pattern is pretty simple, it is a lot of mindless knitting every row (made in the round) so if you get bored easily it might not be the project for you. If you just want a quick and easy project to take in the car, on a trip or out at summer events then this is perfect. I hope the teachers like them!

Memorial Day...

What a wonderful Memorial Day weekend it was, the sun was out, the weather was perfect and the margarita's were flowing... (a little too much last night!) Today I had to pick up my daughter in Lakewood, she had stayed the night at my sisters, so I decided to drop by Gottschalk (they are going out of business). Lisa(aka BFF) had told me they had dress forms for sale and we both have been wanting one for a long time now. I debated several weeks thinking "do I really need one" (my husband would be proud since that is his motto) but after today I couldn't resist... $10, yes for only $10 I got a wonderful form that I can now showcase sweaters on. What a steal... I may have to go back and get another one. I also picked up a display foot for my socks. Now that was a fun shopping trip. If you're interested in one they are closing next Saturday so make your way out there this week before the doors close for good. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

(Note: The picture in the middle is Hailey's sweater so it doesn't quite fit over the women's size dress form)

Ahhh... sun at last!

What a beautiful, beautiful day today (the last couple of days for that matter). My hubby cleaned off all the outdoor furniture and got the cushions today so I now have an outdoor knitting area. It is so nice to wake up to sunshine again. Yesterday I finished off putting the ties on the baby sweater I made for my neighbor, after much debate over buttons versus ties, and I had extra yarn so I made a pair of booties to go with it. The booties turned out really cute. The pattern is by Lisa Ellis (a wonderful friend) and can be found at http://www.lisaellisdesigns.com/, they are so quick and easy. I love the yarn Lisa used in her sample better but I wanted to use up the yarn I had. Hailey and I took it over to our neighbor but she was "at a shower", of course... I hope she likes it.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Yummy yarn...

My fingers have been itching to use some of the yarn I purchased during the Seattle yarn crawl, particularly Punta Yarns merisoft space dyed. So, on Wednesday I got out my free pattern from Renaissance Yarns (http://www.renaissanceyarns.com/) as started knitting. I LOVE this yarn, it is so incredibly soft and the colors are wonderful. The pattern knit up so nice and the yarn just feels so good on. Now I need to go in search of more projects with this yarn. It just might be the yarn I use for all my Christmas projects this year. Yum, yum!

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks...

"Take me out to the ball game, take me out for some fun, buy me some yarn and some stitch markers, I don't care if I ever see a pitch... Let's root, root, root for our favorite speed knitter, if I don't win it's a shame, for its one, two, three rows your out at the old stitch-n-pitch!"

OK... I think I'm tired and getting a little wacky tonight, maybe it's the lack of caffeine or maybe it's just the excitement of working on all my wonderful projects for the stitch-n-pitch. I can't wait to show them off, I hope you all like what I came up with (I know I do). I think I will go rest my wee little brain now before it explodes.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the awesome weather we are going to have! Get out your sunscreen...

Here comes the rain again...

The rain is back tonight but at least we had two wonderful days of sunshine with more on the horizon. Yesterday was a great day... I went with friends to some of the yarn shops in the Seattle yarn crawl. We only made it to three but it was worth the trip. Our first stop was Acorn Street Shop (www.acornstreet.com) which was full of wonderful yarn, some that I hadn't seen before. I found a wonderful skein of Mountain Colors yarn in huckleberry that is just gorgeous. The second stop was Weaving Works (www.weavingworks.com), not much different there but the atmosphere was wonderful and I still found yarn to buy. Our last stop was Renaissance Yarn (www.renaissanceyarns.com) in Kent, after a wonderful lunch at the Ram where I tasted sweet potato fries for the first time. All I have to say about that is, oh my gosh... they were the bomb (or as Randy Jackson would say "dope man, just dope"). Thanks for sharing your fries Lisa, you're the best!

To sum it up... What a wonderful day of sunshine, good food, good friends and fantastic yarn! Who can top that?

As you can see from the pictures below Imagination Celebration at the school went really well. We had a great group of kids this year that seemed to really catch onto knitting. They all seemed to enjoy wearing their finished project and were happily bouncing out the door to show it off. It was a tiring but fun day.

Now I'm off to visit some local yarn shops with a few friends. It's the yarn crawl weekend and we are heading out to the Seattle area. I'm so excited to visit shops I've never been to and find some new yarn. Oh... there's the doorbell... Kristen is here. I'll update later on all the fun we had. Have a great day!

Little people knitting...

Tomorrow is a big day at our school, it is the day of Imagination Celebration. Once again I am helping Lisa teach knitting to third, fourth and fifth graders (with one second grader thrown in just to test us). We are doing friendship bracelets with some beads on the end. Every year this has been a fun event and this year my beautiful daughter signed up just because I was going to be there. Gotta love that girl! Tonight I am on salad and dessert duty, prepping and baking for the volunteer lunch while Lisa is preparing the yarn and beads for the kids. It's so interesting to watch the kids learn, some catch on really quick while others just don't seem to get the hang of it. They are usually really excited to see their completed project and are anxious to show it off to their teacher and friends. It will be a long day but it's worth it. I'm still savoring the time I have left before my kids just "can't be seen with Mom". I'll try to take some photo's if I remember my camera. Now that the yearbook is done, and my camera is not attached to my hip, I can't seem to remember to take it with me. Have a great day and enjoy the sunshine this weekend!

Stitch-N-Pitch here we come...

I finally have my tickets for the Rainiers Stitch-n-Pitch event on July 22nd. Kristen Grimes will be there signing her book French Girl Knits and we have our own party deck with all you can eat food and drinks, what could be better? Tickets are only $29. I only have a few left so contact me today if you would like one.

Keep your fingers crossed...

On Monday I mailed off this shawl to my Mother-In-Law... keep your fingers crossed that she likes it. Let me put it this way... I hope it doesn't end up in the "presents I hate" drawer like sooooo many others. I've never made her anything before and she has never seen anything I've made. They live miles and miles away and we don't see but once every 5 years or so. My husband tells her about my knitting (or maybe even complaines about it :) and we thought maybe this was something she could wear to church. I'm hoping she likes it, maybe it will put me back on "the good list".

Pattern: #309 Nancy One-Skein Shawl from http://www.allynknitandspin.com/.

Yarn: Schaelfer Yarn, Nancy from http://www.allynknitandspin.com/.

Tha pattern was really easy to follow and it was a pretty quick project. I think I would use a different yarn next time though. I wasn't too thrilled with the yarn.

What have I started?

Call me crazy but I decided to start a blanket.... AND one that will probably take me a year or more to finish. I loved the Sock Yarn Blanket found at http://www.shellykang.com/. I think it's a great way to use up leftover sock yarn instead of getting rid of it or having it fill up another box in my garage. I've only made 3 squares so far but I think it is going to be a fun project and one I can't wait to see finished. If anyone out there has a stash of sock yarn they want to get rid of please keep me in mind :) I'd be happy to take it off your hands. Have a great day!

It's a beautiful day but I feel like ......

I woke up this morning to sunshine and a nasty head cold. What a day to be sick, the sun was out, the air was warm, it was just beautiful... and I'm stuck inside on the couch. Of course this didn't stop me from knitting though. I decided to dig out my Keychain Sock Blocker Sock kit that has been burried for months and I'm glad I did. I love this little bugger and I have some ideas for additional uses for some mini socks... watch my blog for details next month. I can't spill the beans until then, maybe even the beginning of July. I bought this kit from The Loopy Ewe at http://www.loopyewe.com/ and just used some leftover yarn from a previous pair of socks. It certainly didn't take much and is a great way to use up the yarn instead of throwing it out. These are fun little socks for Christmas ornaments too. The yarn I used on this one is Socks That Rock that I purchased at Churchmouse Yarns and Tea on Bainbridge Island (a wonderful shop). Socks That Rock is one of my favorite sock yarns and not to many shops carry it yet. It's great to work with and the colors are wonderful. A fun, quick little project!

Bummer day...

Yesterday was a pretty good day until...

The day started out good, went to school and helped out with a project, came home and had lunch, picked up a little around the house then had the knitting group over for 2-1/2 hours of knitting and a little girl talk. Then I picked the kids up from school and took my daughter to her tennis lessons, that's where my day turned sour. I took out the shawl I'm working on thinking I could get an hour of knitting in. I got to the end of my second row and, low and behold, I found a mistake. In the back of my mind I'm thinking "ok, I can fix this, drop a few stitiches, pick up, fix, get back on track"... didn't happen. This shawl is going to be death of lace knitting for me. I'm a quick knitter, I'm a pretty good knitter, I can knit anything, lace can't be that hard... WRONG! OMGosh, I can't figure out what I did wrong... HELP... Sue where are you? I'm really not looking forward to ripping back two or more rows, one stitch at a time, 200+ stitches to fix it. I guess I should have listened to the designer and used a "lifeline" (clearly stated in the pattern). Lesson learned... the hard way. I hear a little frog in my future... ripit, ripit!

Coffee anyone?

Staff appreciation week... do we really need a whole week to tell our teachers how wonderful they are? OK, OK, I know they deserve it but I show my thanks all year long. Anyway, I still thought I should probably do something. I know they both like coffee so coffee cozies it is. These are so quick and easy and, hey, it will save some trees right? These cozies will go over a Starbucks cup (given to me free of charge) filled with some Starbucks chocolate candy, chocolate covered graham crackers, biscotti, cookies and a gift card. I hope they like it.

Oops... I forgot to add the chocolate covered espresso beans to the picture. Maybe I should keep those for myself (lol...just kidding).

Here is the link for the free pattern (although a person can really figure it out on their own):

http://jan-knitfreepatterns.blogspot.com/2006/12/basic-cup-cozy.html. The yarn I used was Crystal Palace Taos and Brown Sheep Lanaloft Worsted. Great project for using up leftover yarn, you really don't need much.

A good laugh...

Tonight while making some basic ribbed coffee cozies I decided I didn't like two I had made the night before so I ripped back to redo them in 2x2 rib. After doing this I had some yarn left over and the dog happened to be sitting in front of me and my daughter beside me. I was looking at the yarn and looking at the dog and thought it would be funny to turn it into a doggie leg warmer, it was already knit up all I had to do was seam it together. When I mentioned this to Hailey she started getting all excited and asked if I could make him "pink" leg warmers to match her's. After I finished seaming the yarn I struggled with the dog to get it on his leg (don't worry, he wasn't harmed in any way so don't send me hate mail). When I put him down he didn't know what to do, he started shaking his leg in the air and biting at it and it was quite funny to watch him walk. OK, now you can hate me because it was so funny I had tears rolling down my eyes and almost pee'd my pants. It was a good laugh but I don't think I'll be putting doggie leg warmers on my "to do" list anytime soon.

The sun is out :)

What a beautiful day here in the pacific northwest. To nice to be inside knitting, guess I will get out and clean off my outdoor furniture so I can take the needles outside and enjoy the sun. From what I've been hearing it won't be here long. Enjoy your day!