SOS Sock Progress

Eleanore's Irish Eyes progress, 1st pair for Summer of Socks:




I think that sums it up.  I'm not feeling overly chatty tonight, mostly due to being tired.  So off I go to bed.  Enjoy the photo.  :~)

FO - Fingerless Mitts

Yes, Yippy, WooHoo!  I finished up the fingerless mitts.




So Monday it'll be off to the Loopy Ewe they go along with the baby hats.  My mailman's going to love me, I have several boxes for him to pick up.  :~)

I love the yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd worsted.  I also love this colorway: Bittersweet.  This yarn is sooooo soft.  If I could afford it I'd so make a sweater for myself out of this stuff....Yummy!  I some other colors in my stash so I'll probably make some warm socks for my feet for the winter.

I modified the Wristers pattern from Creative Knitting, I can't think which issue the pattern is in but it was a couple of issues back.  If you want to know which issue let me know I'll go look it up.  I'm too lazy to do it right now.  The pattern was written for fingering weight at about 8 spi so obviously there was a serious need for adjustment.  I  cast on less stitches, modified the thumb gusset so that it had less stitches increased.  I like the thumb gusset on the wristers pattern which is the main reason I tweaked the pattern.  My worsted weight mods need to be tweaked a little bit more for when I make a pair for myself.

And Now Back To Our.....

We here at Luvs2Knit have been completely out of whack these last few days due to unforeseen circumstances.  I just want to broadcast that I'm back to my normal self and knitting again.   :~)

The exercise ended early yesterday evening so I was able to enjoy a peaceful nights sleep  sans explosions and sirens.  Ah it's nice to be back to normal.   I did knit a bit yesterday afternoon and evening. 

Here's what I worked on during the late afternoon:




Another baby washrag for Blake.  I've discovered that I hate making bobbles, specially with cotton  yarn.  I'll probably make one more some time today so I can throw it into the box I'm mailing to my mom.  It just occurred to me that I have a lot of stuff to mail.  I need to get my butt moving.

Here's what I worked on last night after the kiddos were in bed:




Look I even took a pic with the first wrister in the picture.  I have to show you that I'm actually knitting on the second one.  No picture recycling on this blog.....lol. 

I feel that I need to get the wrister finished and in the mail to Sheri before I can continue on with anything else.  I should be able to finish that up tonight.  Ah, I love worsted weight yarn.  :~)   Plus I need to get some elastic for Kaity's skirt.

I'm "R" Rated Baby

I seen this on Jennie's blog and had to go check it out.  Now I try to keep my blog fairly clean and try not to cuss too much.  I normally let your imaginations fill in the blanks.  Here's where I went to rate my blog.

This is what I got:

Why might you ask that I got an "R" rating, well according to the site it's because they found the following words:

Dead = 5 times, Pissed = 2 times and Hell = 1 time

Dang that's all that it takes to get an R rating.  Wonder what I'd be if they seen the way I talk sometimes.  :~)

Thought I'd share....it cracked me up.  I laughed my butt off when I seen the R rating pop up.

Playin' Along

I found this meme on Mommy Susie Knits, so I thought I play along.

In some areas there won't be 5 things.  Just for the fun of it, I've linked some of the stuff so you can check it out if you want.  None of these items are listed in particular order, I just put them in as I thought of them.

5 jobs I have had in my life
-- Stocked shelves at Kmart
-- Spent 4 years on Active Duty in the US Air Force
-- Full Time Mommy

5 films I can watch again and again
****I could add several more to this one.  :~)
-- Band of Brothers
-- The Hunt for the Red October
-- Any Harry Potter Movie
-- Gettysburg
-- McLintock!

5 places I have lived
-- California
-- Oklahoma
-- Texas
-- Mississippi
-- Idaho

5 TV series I watch
-- House
-- Lost
-- Monk
-- Psych
-- Dirty Jobs

5 places I have been on holiday
***We plan to hit up several more places after we've moved to Montana.
-- Yosemite
-- Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks
-- Disneyland

5 things I do every time I am on the net
-- Check email
-- Check bloglines
-- Go out to ravelry
-- Surf knitting blogs
-- Reply to emails and blog comments

5 things I would NOT eat for anything in the world
*****Sue I'm with you on a few of these...Yuck!
-- Rocky Mtn Oysters
-- Snails
-- Meatloaf (I know I'm weird)
-- Sushi
-- Unidentified leftovers that have been in the back of my fridge for an undetermined amount of time!   :~)

5 places I would love to be right now
-- In California holding my new baby nephew Blake
-- Scotland
-- Ireland
-- Alaska to visit friends and seeing all I can see
-- In a fabulous yarn shop with absolutely no spending limit

Good News/Bad News

I'll give you all the good news first:  baby Blake was born last night weighting in at 7lbs, 4oz and 19" long and full head of hair.  Of course he couldn't enter the world without a little drama.  He had the cord wrapped around his neck not once but twice.  But never fear both baby and mama are safe and healthy. 

Now on to the bad news.  The sirens and alarms played on all the speakers last night, all night long.  Lucky for me I was so exhausted that I slept through all but the last one that went off this morning around 6:30.  Both my girls slept through it too.  I think it helps that I have a radio that plays ocean waves in Bree's room.  I play it for background noise which helps because one of her bedroom walls is also one of the living room walls. 
This place we are in now is a modular home which is a mobile home with a damn foundation and slightly more solid walls.  I'm going to emphasize on slightly.  I long for a home of my own, one with real walls and better yet one that isn't attached to my neighbors house, which is what we had before we moved into this place.

So far, so good this afternoon has been quiet but I think that is attributed to the fact that SSgt "Stupid" and her sidekick Airman "Idiot" have went home for the day.  See it's women like those two that give the rest of use a bad name.  They are stupid, so there for that means that all women are stupid.  Sheesh!

No Knitting

*******New Flash: As I was finishing this post I got a text from my sis who was passing info from my mom...moms phone died  :~)   My nephew was born this evening....WooHoo.  I'm an Auntie.  Both mom and baby are healthy.  I'll post more tomorrow when I have the news.  I'm quiet sure my mom will call me tomorrow with the stats.

Yup, you heard right, no knitting was accomplished in the Luvs2Knit house today.  Shocking I know.  I just couldn't concentrate to save my life.  The last thing I needed to do was touch any of my knitting projects, who know what mistakes I would have had to rip out.   :~)




I did get these in the mail this morning.  Pretty cute aren't they?  Even if I never learn to spin they will make lovely decorations in the fiber room I one day hope to have.  But never fear I will learn to spin.  If you're interested in where I got the spindles they come from Mapasspindles on ebay.

I didn't knit today because I kept getting woke up last night, between the loud explosions from fake bombs, sirens and more explosions I had a tad bit of a hard time falling asleep.  The reason I had a problem falling back asleep was because the first set of explosions woke me up from my "sleep of the dead".  Normally the only thing that wakes me from that is any word or sound uttered from one of my kids mouths.   Needless to say it scared me spitless. 

The first explosion bout gave me a heart attack.   I calmed myself down after a whole lotta very quiet cussing.....kaity was asleep next to me since Shawn is working nights.  After all was quiet, I laid back down and attempted to go back to sleep.  I was juuuuust drifting off when the sirens go off.....ear splitting sirens.  This siren lasted for a good 2-3 minutes.  By this time I'm out in the living room cussing and stomping because for some reason I think this going to help.  Anyone who knows me other then through email and my blog knows that I can cuss bad enough to make a sailor blush.  But the cussing served its purpose: keeping me from getting on the phone and calling a bunch of innocent people really bad names.  Try to keep in mind that I was woke out of my "sleep of the dead" by something other then my kids.....not a good thing to do.  Ok, cussing is over with, the siren has stopped I've sent Shawn an text message stating something to the fact that they needed to just nuke the play area (simulated of course) so the rest of the base can go back to sleep.  I found out this morning that the siren wasn't suppose to sound, that was "Operator Error" I'm being PC but please feel free to insert a very creative nasty name of your choice.   :~)
Alright so, where were we, oh yeah, the sirens stopped and I stopped cussing so it was time to go back to bed but one hitch, now Bree is fussing.  Now I can't sleep if there is fussing coming from my kiddos room.  So I had to lay back in my bed and listen to see if she would settle down.  Another 20 minutes later and all was quiet in Brees room.  Ah, time for sleep.  Now I'm laying there in bed, starting to doze off and they start the explosions.  More cussing followed....please feel free to use any of your most favorite curse words to fill in for the imagination....I won't mind a little ad libbing here.  By the time all is quiet and I'm trying to doze off and find my "sleep of the dead" it's after 4:00 am.  I was woke up at about 8:40 am by my loving but very tired hubby.  He got to sleep, I got coffee and a headache. 
Bad news:  The exercise won't end until some time Friday.  Here's hoping it's quiet tonight.  I'm not going to hold my breath.....lest I pass out.  :~)

I'm not knitting tonight, I'm going to bed.  Hopefully tonight will be a lot better then last night.  Tomorrow I want to start swatching for Kaity's skirt and my sis's tank.

Ah crap....there went the sirens.  *sigh*  I hate this base.  Please let Sept get here faster.

Halfway There

Ok, before I start my knitting content I want to let you know that my cousin's hubby Andy is awake now and appears to be in good humor.  He's not able to talk at the moment.  From what I gather he had some damage to the portion of his brain that controls his speech.  Thank you everyone for keeping him in your thoughts and prayers.  ((((((hugs))))))

Now on to knitting.  This is what I finished with my lovely night of quiet.

Please excuse the super white legs.  Can I convince you all that they aren't mine?.....ah guess not huh!  Oh well.

This is my first pair of socks for Summer of Socks 07.  I'm not competing in the contests.  I'm not good at those kind of things anyway.  I'm in it to knit the socks and meet up with other wonderful sock knitters. 
This sock fits Fan-Friggin-Tastic!!!!  I am sooo lovin' this sock.  You all should have seen me dancing a jig in my living room with my one sock on.  Go figure, I knit a sock I love madly and it's in the middle of friggin' summer *sigh*....the torture of it all.  The second sock is cast on already though it only has two rows of ribbing.  I didn't think you all needed to see a pic of 2 rounds of 1x1 ribbing...Not very exciting.   :~)   I'm heading to bed after I post this and make a quick update to ravelry.  If you aren't in ravelry or on the invite list, go put your name on it.  This site is awesome for organization and it keeps getting better and better.  Casey and Jessica rock!
I worked on my socks while watching Poseidon and Just Like Heaven....yeah I know, I know, I'm behind in the times on movies.   I watched Poseiden first, let me tell ya what, I don't think I want to be taking a cruise any time soon.   
All in all Poseidon was pretty good.  Plus who can pass up seeing Josh Lucas....Woooooo with a Capital "W"!  I loved him in Sweet Home Alabama....which if you haven't seen go put it in your netflix queue. 
If you don't mind the whole dead body thing.....there was a good amount of them, then Poseidon may be the movie for you.  The body count and graphics aren't as much as say Saving Private Ryan though.  It was only like 11pm when I finished Poseidon so I fixed a snack and watched Just Like Heaven.  I've had this movie for like a year now.  My sis gave it to me so I could watch it and I kept forgetting about it.  Now I can give it back.  It's a very cute movie and if you love chick flicks then this one is for you.  Now I should be able to go to bed with thoughts of happy endings instead of a sinking cruise ship.

Well damn now I'm becoming your guys movie critic.  Hey give me a shout if you have any movies that you love.  I'm always looking to add to my netflix list.  I'll watch just about any type of movie.  I love old western and war movies, any military related movie.  I have a tendency to like movies that a lot of people hate.  I thought Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle and Shaun of the Dead were friggin' hilarious.  See I told you I'll watch anything.  :~)   I still cry when I watch Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias so I guess there may be hope for me yet.

Hope you all have a great day!   Happy Knitting!   

Knitter in the Making

Kaity and I spent some time on knitting.  She's been wanting to learn how to knit and this afternoon we sat down for a lesson.  It went way better then I thought.  Damn kid is quick and had the knit stitch down in a few minutes.  Right now she's just working on her stitches.  Once she has that down I'll have her pick out some yarn and start her on an easy project. 

I give you "knitter #2" in the Luvs2Knit household...wonder if I can get Shawn to knit.   :~)

Blog Issues

Anyone running bloglines for your feed reader will know what I'm talking about in this post.  I'm not sure if there were problems with google reader or not.  For some reason bloglines has been pulling my old posts and marking them as new.  It seems to happen each time I post something new to my blog.  I think I found the error. 
If you were having these problems let me know if they are still happening and I will continue to dig.

Thank You,
From the IT team at Knittin' and Lovin' It   :~)

SOS Socks

I am love, love, lovin' this pattern.  It has a 12 round repeat but it's super simple to memorize. 




I put the last repeat on the cuff, worked the heel flap, and completed the gusset.  Now all I need to do is put a few more repeats on the foot and I'll be startin' the toe.  The only mod I've done to the pattern was to make a slip stitch heel instead of stockinette.  My heel is kinda on the skinny side so I've found that the stockinette heel has a tendency to stretch and bag. 

I just tried the sock on and it fits absolutely perfect and it's mine, all mine!

Well I'm off to snag some extra sleep tonight.  I want to get up before the girls do for a little extra knitting time.  I want to work on my socks so that I can work on the fingerless mitt in the afternoon.

Summer of Socks Update

I managed to put another 2 pattern repeats on Eleanor....1 more repeat to go before starting the heel.  I think 5 repeats will be a long enough cuff.




I'll probably work on the other fingerless mitt and maybe a little on the Eleanor socks tonight after the kiddos are down for the night.  It looks like Shawn will be working night shift for this exercise.  So it'll be a lovely 12 hour shift for him but that means absolute peace and quiet in the house at night for the few nights he'll have to work.   :~)

I think for my next pair of socks I'm going to follow in Sue's foot steps and make a pair of Jaywalkers. 

Fingerless Mitts

This is what I worked on for my Sunday knitting.




I decided I had enough time to pop out a pair of fingerless mitts for the Loopy Ewe Q2 Challenge.  One mitt down, one more to go.  :~)
I'm using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in the color Bittersweet.  I'm using the same concept for the Wristers pattern obviously with some adjustments.  Can you imagine how big this fingerless mitt would be if I would have cast on 60 sts instead of 40 sts using worsted weight yarn.   :~)    I think I'd have a mega mitt.

Well I'm off to snag a few hours of sleep.  Have a great day and hope everyone manages to squeeze in a little knitting time. 

A Few Updates

I'm going to make this fairly short.....it's late and I'm heading to bed.  :~)

I'm kickin' myself in the butt because I need a size 6, 16" circular needles to work Bree's dress so that's now going to have to wait till I order from Knit Picks again.  That'll teach me to not look before I order.  I got the yarn, I got the pattern, I have one of the two different 16" circs need for the dress.  Oh well, guess that means I'll be ordering needles this payday.  :~)

First, Kaity got a new haircut today.  It's now up to her shoulders, it's cute and she's very very proud of it.




Next up, Monkey Sunrise socks are done:




I'll be shipping these off to my mom here soon.  I love em, I know she loves em, and I have enough yarn left to make Bree her own Baby Monkey Sunrises. 

Finally, my SOS 07 socks have been started.  I give you, Eleanor's Irish Eyes. 




Sorry bout the crappity picture.  I promise to get a better one the next time.  I'm using the Eleanor pattern by Momma Monkey from Socktopia.  The yarn I'm using is Scarlet Fleece It's Tubular x2 sock yarn in the Irish Eyes colorway.  I bought this from Sheri a few months back.

Box in the Mail

I finally got that box I've been waiting on.  The mailman delivered my Knit Picks order this morning.




I bought 4 skeins of Shine Worsted in Watermelon for a dress for Bree.  I also bought one 16" classic circular in size 8 for my dishcloths and two 32" classic circulars size US 2...2.75mm.  WoooHooo....more sock needles.  I've gotten rather use to knitting magic loop.  I'll definitely be buying more of the 16" Classic Circs in other sizes.  I think I need size 6, 7, 9 and more and more.....now I need to find a storage solution for all these circulars.  :~)

Well I'm off to swap the laundry and see if I can't finish up that Monkey Sunrise sock.

Sock Update & I'm It!

I have one repeat and the toe left on the Monkey, I'm not going to finish it like I originally thought.  I decided to call it an early night....I'm heading to bed as soon as I finish posting this.  If all goes well I'll get a little quiet time tomorrow to work on the sock.

I've been tagged by Knittech

The rules are to go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday month and day only. Then post 3 events, 2 births and one holiday that occurred on your birthday, then tag 5 friends.

My Birthday: 7 Jun

Events:

1. 1654 - Louis XIV is crowned King of France.
2. 1893 - Gandhi's first act of civil disobedience.
3. 1982 - Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public; the bathroom where Elvis Presley died five years earlier is kept off-limits.

Births:

1. 1952 - Liam Neeson, Northern Irish actor
2. 1974 - Bear Grylls, British survivor

Holiday:

1. Roman Empire - first day of the Vestalia (penus vestae) in honor of Vesta.

This time around I'm going to let you all decide if you want to play along.  If you do, please feel free to post away.  Snag the rules, look up your birthday on Wikipedia and post on your blog.  If you do decide to play, drop me a comment so I can hop over to your blog to read what you found.  :~)

This one was fun.  I like this one better then the ones where I have to come up with stuff about me.   :~)

Kids....Gotta Love Em!

Alright.  You all remember awhile back when I posted this photo of the "PJ Escaping Baby"?




Now mind you, she only ever managed to get more then one arm out of the PJs.

This is what I walked in on this morning:




Notice the PJ's are not on the baby and the are still zipped.  She managed to wiggle out of the dang things without unzipping them.  :~) 
Please, please don't let her figure out she can remove her diaper.

Monkey Sunrise Progress

I managed to get quite a bit done on the Monkey Sunrise sock yesterday.




I put on pattern repeat on in the afternoon.  I put the other four repeats and the heel flap after I got the girls in bed.  I have to put 3 more pattern repeats for the foot and I'll be starting the toe.  If all goes well I'll be able to finish these and cast on my SOS 07 socks and get the swatches knit up for Kaity's skirt and my sis's tank. 

Kill The Cat!!!!

This evil cat who's name has been change from Skitz to "Evil Furball Who Chews Socks" or maybe shortened to "Wool Eater".




Did this to my sock:




I wanted to kill the cat but thought that would be to easy on her.  What possesses animals to chew on things?  So now Wool Eater is on my poo list.  Those were some comfy socks too.  Damn cat!

Cute Card & Such

I got this b-day card in the mail this morning from my mom.  I loved it and wanted to share it with all of you.  :~)




On the inside it says "...But apparently, they don't know how to knit. Warmest Wishes"

Warning: Major Rant Content containing absolutely no knitting.  Skip to the bottom to get back to knitting if you don't want to read my rantings!  You can skip it, I don't mind.  The rant is mostly for my benefit!   :~)

This card made me crack up and I sorely needed it after the news Shawn gave me.  He was told that he needed to make sure his personal bag was packed and ready for the upcoming exercise.  So we went out and purchased all of the stuff he needed.....all $45 worth of stuff.  I'm pissed about wasting the money but I'm more pissed because this isn't the first time the little ass has done something like that.  I can't even begin to comprehend what is going through his pea brain. 
Shawn found this morning that he didn't need his personal bag because he's not deploying because we are PCSing (moving) before the next deployment.  Only the people who are deploying in Sept need to have their personal bags put together for this exercise.  Shawn's stupid little pin headed (insert a whole lot of creative cussing) weasel of a Lt (more cussing here) tells him "Oh yeah, I knew you didn't need to but I wanted you guys to show flight initiative".  WTF, does that mean Flight Initiative.  Did the idiot think he was going to gain brownie points for omitting information which in my opinion is lying!  Let me tell you what, I was ready to go in there and show that little (insert a lot more cussing) stupid moron just what flight initiative is.  He's a worthless waste of space and is sucking up valuable air that is needed for more worthy individuals.  I told Shawn to make sure the little (insert a lot of creative unladylike name calling here) turd stays away from me when I'm up there for Shawn promotion ceremony because I will not hold back my opinions.  What I'm saying here in blogland is what I'd tell that little waste of space if I ever see him.  This isn't the first time he's done something like this.  I have absolutely no problem looking someone in the eye and saying "Go away, I can't stand you".  I'm not one for politely smiling and making small talk with some one I don't like.  Life's to short to waste it on things like that.

Anyways, back to knitting content.

I've changed my mind and am now planning on using this for my SOS socks instead:

It's Scarlet Fleece It Tubular x2 sock yarn in the color Irish Eyes.  Wonder if I'll change my mind again?  I'm still planning on sticking with Elenore, a pattern by Momma Monkey.

Sorry for the rant everyone.....I just needed to get that out of my system so I can get through the rest of the day.

Happy Knitting!

Monkey Sunrise Update

Just a quick update to show you all what I worked on.....I've got to stop staying up so late to knit.  Wonder how many more times I'm going to say that before I actually listen to myself?




More on Summer of Socks (SOS) and my wishy washiness to pick a damn yarn to use.  I've changed my mind again.  I may change it again before I cast on, I'm going to finish up these first and then cast on for my SOS socks, plus there's Kaity's skirt and my sisters tank that I need to get on the needles.  Actually I need to swatch first.  Guess I need to get to knitting. 

Good Night, Good Morning, or Good Afternoon...depends on when you read this post.  :~)   I guess I have all my bases covered.

My B-Day Gift

Lookie what I got:




And when it opened it, this is what I saw:




A lovely set of lace blocking wires.  Now I need to start a new lace project so I can use.

Summer of Socks 2007

I've been searching far and wide for a pattern that grabs my interest that will go with the sock yarn I have for the first pair of socks for the Summer of Socks KAL.  You wouldn't think that would be too difficult with the amount of sock yarn that I have.  It took me two nights of hem-hawing over what I wanted to do.  So I've decided on one of Momma Monkey's patterns, Elenore...see what they look like here and get the pattern here.  I'm going to be using this.  I'm using my one and only skein of STR.

Since no post is complete with out a pic:

Look she really does smile!

Baby Hats are Done!

I finished the other baby hat.  The pattern is located in the Free Pattern section....link is located in the top left column.
Here's the photo:




I improvised on the model since Bree is sleeping and there is no way I'm crazy enough to wake her up.  It's one of her toys.  It has these cool see through plastic balls that get dropped in the top and you pull the blue lever and they drop down into the bottom and roll out.  She loves it!  You can see if here if you're interested.  Fisher Price is in my opinion is one of the best toy makers for little kids toys out there.  Out of 7 years of buying their toys we've only had two toys that were recalled.  Look at me, here I am putting in a plug for Fisher Price.  Hell with the amount of toys I've bought from them I should own stock in the company.

I also tried the coffee can.....I think the toy worked out better.  Wonder what coffee Trish drinks.  :~)

I'll get these hats mailed out to Sheri here in the next few days. 

I'm not typing anymore....I'm going to bed.  Good night or should I say good morning since most of you will be reading this some time later in the morning.  :~)

Have A Great Day Everyone!

Quick Update

This is what I worked on last night:




I'm almost halfway through the second baby hat for the Loopy Ewe Q2 Challenge.  I'll post the pattern when I'm done with it.  It's a simple hat but I'll post for anyone who's interested.

Not much going on today.  I still have a few boxes floating in the mail so there may or may not be another post later today.  The agenda for today is to finish the last load of laundry and knit, knit, knit.  :~)

Question Bout Yarn

Has anyone used Cascade Bollicine Holiday?  I found it discounted at WEBS and thought I might make a sweater for Kaity.  It is 70% Merino wool and 30% acrylic and at $2.49 a ball it would be less then $15 to make a sweater.  I have no problem getting a new yarn to try.  I just thought I'd see if any of you all have used it and what the thought on it are.  I may order some on the 1st of July.

Goodies

Here's what UPS and USPS brought me today.

First, a pattern and tape measure:




I got the pattern to make a sweater for Bree.  I love Knitting Pure & Simple patterns.  They're well written and very easy to follow.  I have several of their patterns and there are several more that I want to get.  I have some skeins of Lorna's Lace worsted weight yarn in Child's Play and Purple Club that will work perfect for sweaters for Bree.  The tape measure is a Lantern Moon sheep tape measure.  I bought one for a swap pal a few months back and decided to get one for myself.  I'm tired of fighting the tape measure I have now.  I'll save that for bigger measurements.

Next up, the yarn my sis ordered from Little Knits:




I have 5 skeins of both colors to work with.  One color will become the Ribs and Lace Tank and the other color will become another top for my sis.  The colors are #1143 - Silky Sky Blue and #1086 Velvety Pink with a hint of Lilac. 

I'll be working hard this week to finish up my mom's Monkey socks and the second hat for the Q2 challenge so I can cast on for Kaity's skirt and my sister's tank.

Halter Top Modeled

As promised....here is a picture of my some what cooperative model.

This pic below cracked me up....she's looking at the top as if to say, "Mom what in the world did you put on me"....plus it makes her look like she has the super huge head.  :~)

The top actually fits pretty good.  It's a tad bit big around but I can take some left over yarn and tack it in the back temporarily until she needs me to let it out.  I made the 12 month size so she could wear it the whole summer.  Here's a little look at how small she is.  She's 11 months old and is still wearing 6/9 month old clothes.  Though she if finally starting to fit into 12 month jammies, onsies, and shirts.  I still have to buy 6/9 month shorts for her skinny little butt.  Most 11 month babies have at least hit the 12 month clothing....not worrying, it's just an observation that I've made.  :~)

I'll probably post later today with my goodies received in the mail.  I'm waiting on UPS.  They should be here in a bit with the yarn for my sisters tops.  Goody!

Look Out, Another FO

I'm totally wrecking my knitting ADD by turning out another FO. 
I finished up the Baby Halter Top for Bree.  Some time tomorrow I will have my little turkey model it.  If all goes well I may get a good photo. 




Silly me, I stayed up to finish this instead of going to bed like I should have.  I used the pattern Katja from Knitty.com.  All in all it was an easy knit.  This was the first time I've used a provisional cast on.  I was a tad worried about it but it turned out to be really easy.  So there's another technique to add to my list.

I tried spinning this weekend with no luck.  Never fear I'm not giving up.  I'm just going to give my system some time to fight of this crappy cold so that I can concentrate better.  I've just been way to tired to do anything with any complexity to it.

I haven't cast on for Kaity's skirt yet.  I'm not going to until I finish up the other baby hat for the Loopy Ewe Q2 Challenge and get my mom's other Monkey sock finished. 

Mail Delivery

My kind mail brought me this:




This is the yarn for Kaity's skirt.  I bought it from Fuzzy Mabel and they are great.  I
received an email from Cynthia letting me know that one of the colors I
had was out of stock.  She asked me if I wanted to hold the order until the out of stock yarn came in or if I wanted to sub it with a different color.  I asked Kaity and she decided to pick a different color.  I emailed Cynthia and before I knew it, I had received shipping confirmation.  I love the way the order was handled....great customer service will keep me coming back.

And this:




These are yarn samples from Sarah's Yarns.  I've been curious about a few of their yarns.  Well I got an email stating that they will send sample yarns to you to try for free all you have to do is cover the shipping.  So I picked a few Zephyr lines to try.  Later on I'll probably order some samples of a few other lines that I'm interested in. 

Baby Halter Top

I started this the other night for Bree:




It's a really quick knit.  The garter stitch isn't the same on both sides which has to do with the different cast ons that I used.  I'm not sweating it and I now know what my mistake is so that if I knit this again I won't make it. 

I have about 22 rows left before I bind off and seam it up.  It's the pattern Katja from Knitty.  I'm using King Tut cotton and it's a dream to knit with.  This is the nicest cotton yarn I've used so far.  It's soft and it doesn't kill my hands to knit with.  This is the yarn my sis and I picked out for her Ribs and Lace Tank from Interweave Knits Spring 07 issue.

I couldn't hold out on my sock yarn diet.  I signed up for the Yarn Pirate monthly sock club.  That was just too good to miss out on.  Even Shawn said "Go For It".  If Shawn doesn't complain about it then I'm not doing to bad.  So now I'll be getting one skein of sock yarn each month.....woohoo!

Shawn and I decided to change the date we leave here for Montana from 6 Aug to the 5th or 6th of Sept.  We have many good reasons, all of which out weigh the bad which is going to be  Kaity missing the first week of school.  So I now have one extra month to get things done which means I'm not going to be running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.  :~)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

An FO to Report

Just a quick post to say lookie, lookie:




I finally finished it and got it all seamed up.....the next one is going to be knit in the round.  She's already wearing and is waiting impatiently for her yarn to get here so I can start her skirt.   :~)

Bye for now....dinner is done, I'm going to eat. 

It Just Dawned On Me!

I was sitting here at the computer and I had one of those little voice moments, you know the one where you here the little voice in your head say "dude.....".  Well my little voice said "Dude wonder how far you're going to be from the Canadian border?"  Over to mapquest I go....less then two hours people....guess I need to get a passport, which by the way isn't going to be cheap.  Wonder if I can convince the government to pay for the passports?  Naw, probably not but it was a cool thought while it lasted?  :~)   Shawn looked it up and I believe for all 4 of us to get passports it's going to run us about $350-400....maybe with income tax money.

Goodies & Dress Updates

I received the fiber I order from Susie (Perchance to Knit).  She was destashing a bit and I thought I'd help her out.  ;~)




The bag of rainbow is Merino and the other bag is a good variety of different types of fibers for me to try.  So between what I received from Colleen for my B-day and what I bought from Susie I may just have enough to keep me busy for a little while....put a big emphasis on "may".  :~)

Now this was a tad disappointing last night.  Look at what I have left on Kaity's dress:




I'm coming down with some kind of damn cold and haven't been feeling all that well.  I just couldn't finish the i-cord last night.  I have about 6" of i-cord to do and I can block this baby.  I think after the pieces are seamed together, I'm going to single crochet around the armholes too just to give them a neater appearance.  Next time, I'm knitting this baby in the round.  I'll have to sit down with the pattern and work up the changes before I start the next one.  :~)

I'll leave you with a pic that Kaity took the other day:




Yes I let my 6 year old use the camera.  It's one of those Nikon Coolpix cameras so they're small and lightweight.  I won't let her use the Sony which costs more and weighs more.  She does a pretty good job of taking pics if I must say.   
I may look into getting her a better camera for her b-day next year.  Right now she has one of those Fisher Price kid camera's, which is a great camera for any of you that have kids or grandkids around 3-5 years old.  I think they run about $45-50.  The darn things really are tough, Kaity's dropped her on carpet, down stairs, on tile floor plus it's digital and comes with it's own software which is not Mac compatible but I've found none of them are.  We can pull the pictures off the camera using iphoto but we can't use the editing software that came with the camera.  It's been a great camera but I think she's ready for something better.
Well I'm off to enjoy my afternoon of peace and quiet.   

Excellent Progress!

OK, I must getting the non-knitting news out right now.....if your not interested in anything other then the knitting skip this paragraph and head on to the knitting content.  My hubby made rank this year.  For all of you who don't know much about the inner workings of the Air Force, to make rank from Staff Sargent through Master Sargent....see miltary ranks here or here.....you must take some good size tests, which test the persons knowledge of the Air Force's history, customs, and the like and a test on that persons specific job....there's a good amount of studying involved.  This was Shawn's 4th or 5th year of testing so it was really great to here that he made it.  He's super excited about it and so am I!  He should be sewing on Technical Sergeant (TSgt) either the 1st of July or the 1st of Aug.

Now on to knitting!  I took a progress picture of Kaity's sundress last night.




I'm so close to having this baby done.  I can probably finish it up this afternoon if I get the time.  The dress pieces are matching up great it's just the picture and the way they are pinned that make it look as if one pieces is bigger then the other.  If I can get them finished this afternoon I can work on blocking them tomorrow and if all goes well I'll have it seamed up tomorrow night.

In case anyone is wondering the dress pieces are pinned to a blanket I made for Kaity when she was a baby.  We didn't have carpet in our old house and I didn't want her crawling around on the cold tile floor so I made her an over sized blanket to play on.  It will drape nicely over a twin size bed.   :~) 

It's made up of blocks sewn together that are 8" x 8" give or take a little.  Each 8" block consists of 4 coordinating smaller blocks sewn together.  For this blanket I found several print pieces that I liked and got a solid to go with each of the prints so each 8" square has 2 smaller squares of the same print and 2 squares of it's coordinating solid.  The backing to the blanket is just your standard fleece you can buy at Wal-Mart for about $8-$12 a yard.  I think the whole blanket cost me about $60-$70 in materials.  I could have bought something cheaper but look how long it's lasted.  :~)

I machine quilted the top, batting and backing together instead of hand stitching it or using yarn to hold it all together.  I didn't want to use yarn ties because I didn't want Kaity picking at them all the time. It was fun and easy to sew.

Happy Knitting Everyone!  Hope you all find time to knit today!

Busy Wednesday

Boy was today fun.  Bree was fussy and went down for her nap several hours later then she normally does.  But she did go down for her nap long enough for me to attack the rest of the laundry that needed to be folded and knit a few more rows on Kaity's sundress.
I ordered the yarn for Kaity's Hip in Hemp skirt from Fuzzy Mabel.  I ordered the Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy.  You all will get to see it when it comes in...promise.  :~)

I also found a Knitting Pure & Simple pattern from my favorite ebay seller Oregon*Trail*Yarn to make a sweater for Bree using some of the Lorna's Laces Shepherd's worsted I have in my stash.  She's nice, ships fast, and she doesn't over charge for shipping.

I also have yarn coming in to make the Ribs and Lace Tank out of the Spring 07 Interweave Knits for my sis.  I decided to find a replacement for the yarn because it would have cost $42 to make it with the Karabella Zodiac.  I'm sure it's a nice yarn but it's a little out of my range right now.  While cruising for a suitable sub yarn for this pattern, I found some King Tut cotton at Little Knits for $5.50 a skein so I had her pick up the yarn need to make the tank and told her that I would toss her the money for it next payday....I doubt the yarn will still be there on the 1st of July.  She decided to pick up another color for me to use one another top for her.....this is the point where I've got a big smile on my face and I'm giggling like a school girl.  She got Silky Sky Blue #1143 and Velvety Pink #1086.  I'm using the King Tut for that baby halter top for Bree and I love it.  I think it will work great for the Ribs and Lace Tank.  So now I have all sorts of goodie boxes in the mail.....haven't seen a whole lot of boxes coming in here lately so this will be kinda nice.  :~) 

My mom ordered my b-day present so I should be seeing that soon....goodie! I also helped destash Susie by purchasing a few fiber related goodies that she was destashing.  I'll be trying my hand at spinning this weekend.  :~)

Alright, I'm done linking everything to death.  I'm off to knit on Kaity's sundress. 

So lacking knitting related pictures I leave you with a pic of Bree eating her strawberries.

Me & My Knitting ADD

Last night I worked on Kaity's sundress.  I decided not to take a picture since all I did was put another inch or so on it.  It would have looked very similar to the picture that I posted yesterday.

I also started this:




It's Katja from Knitty.com.  I'm using some of the King Tut cotton I won in Colleen's "Spare A Square" monthly drawing.  I really like knitting with the King Tut....it's soft and easy to work with.  Hopefully the 182 yds are enough.  The pattern calls for 180yds.  Oh well, if I run out I'll figure something out.  :~)

Sheri has a sneak up last night and I just about wanted to cry.  There was a Yarn Pirate colorway called Loopy Groupie that I wanted really badly.  I of course didn't get it and it sold out in what seems like 5 seconds flat.  I really really really hate not being able to buy yarn.  There are also some very gorgeous colors from Perchance to Knit that I was drooling over.  Someone want to go buy her yarn and put me out of my misery....lol!

Well I'm off to go eat lunch, start some more laundry, get Bree down for a nap and maybe if all goes well watch a movie with Kaity and knit some more on my projects. 

Eeek! I Knit Last Night!

I actually have some knitting to report.  Weeeee!

The back half of Kaity's sundress:




This here is 6 of the 21 inches needed for the dress to be complete....not counting the i-cord which goes super fast.  I have to kick into a slightly higher gear on this sundress.  I've gotten the go ahead to order the yarn for the Hip in Hemp pattern.  Kaity went totally crazy for it so I'll be ordering some from Fuzzy Mabel here in a few days when we get paid.  I'm going to use the Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy that was used in the pattern.  For once I can afford the yarn used in the pattern....lol.  The hemp skirt is just to damn cute to pass up knitting.  I'm soooo glad that Kaity love the stuff I knit for her. 

I've also started a free pattern section here on the blog.  It's in the upper left hand column and it's called Free Patterns.  Right now the only pattern I have is a pattern for a pot holder, hotpad....whatever you want to call it.  It's extremely easy!  I'll be adding other patterns as I come up with them.  I should be adding the pattern for the baby hat I made for the Loopy Ewe Q2 Challenge here within the next few weeks.  I need to finish typing up the pattern and knit another hat using the pattern to check for errors. 
This is the first time I've written a pattern so please go easy on me....lol!   :~)   Actually I would love feedback from you, so send an email if you have something to say about it....good, bad, whatever.  I can't improve things if I don't receive feedback. 

Now I'll leave you all with this:

Bree can stand up on her own now.  I helped her stand by giving her a little support but once she was up she was doing great.  It's only a matter of time before she's cruising around the furniture.   :~)

And we mustn't forget a pic of Kaity making one of her goofy faces.  :~)

Have a Great Day & Happy Knitting!!!