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!