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!