so golden

Progress of the day.. I'm still working on the Crocus bud shawl. Right now without being blocked is only 14" across. I don't know how much bigger it will get after being blocked because its cotton. I still love it anyway and I don't have any idea how much yardage is on the cone.. but I think it's a lot.. and if I wanted to .. I could make this really , really long.
Other than chores around the house and enjoying the tepid weather.. it's a pretty quiet day here.

stash busting..

With the perusal of many patterns yesterday and running back and forth to the mega stash and narrowing my choices down to 3 or 4 sweaters for my next project... I ended up going off in a different direction completely.. I found this giant marigold cone of 100% cotton in the stash and then it just happened... I conveniently had the printed out pattern for the Crocus shawl in my knitting bag.. I grabbed a crochet hook and it was all settled...I worked a few rows and then I couldn't put it down.. so my next project will be the Crocus bud shawl by Valley yarns.. As far as the yarn is concerned.. I have no idea where I even purchased it or when.. but I think it's a gazillion years old.. I do know that I originally purchases it for the knitting machine.. What a waste that would have been.. because the yarn crochets like butter.. I love working with it and can't put it down ( I said that already)..I think if I saw yarn this color in a yarn shop today I would just pass it by.. maybe it was Bonnie's Crocus Bud shawl that made me take a second look at it.. anyway the thick and thin nature of the yarn is giving the shawl a little more texture and that is just fine with me..
There was all sorts of stash busting going on yesterday. I found these half finished X-st pillow cases tucked away somewhere .. I might even work a little on these today too ... hum.. "M" for Mom or maybe my last name... not sure really but it works..

I just can't decide..!!

For the last month or so I've been basically working on small projects like hats.. scarfs..gloves and socks and some baby knits... I'm working on my last hat today ( I have the day off) and my mind is already thinking about what I want to knit next. Every year I make myself one sweater which I haven't done yet this winter.. So here are a few that I have been looking at. I love wrap sweaters and I was thinking of making another wrap cardi from Stitch divas.. because I love that sweater and use it a lot... or maybe something different like the Big bow cardigan from Interweave crochet.. or maybe this cute chevron lace cardigan that I found on ravelry... or the yoga wrap sweater also found on ravelry.. I would probably use that one a lot too.. and not to forget Hey, Teach! found on knitty.com..I could probably use Hey, Teach for work.. gezzz so many choices.. did I tell you that I have yarn in my stash to make each and everyone of these sweaters.. omy.. Well I will be thinking this over today as I knit my Thorpe hat... oo below are my finished baby socks.. I just have to wash them and mail them out.. (^_^)

wip.. and a hug

Here is my current wip.. I will probably finished these right after I finish this post..
The pattern is Left over baby socks.. (pdf) by Matthew Hesson-McInnis.. In the directions there are 2 different heals to choose from.. for this pair I choose the short row heal...I twisted the stitches where the pattern said to twist them but I still have a little hole at that point. I wasn't able to see it until I was almost finished... probably because all the stitches were compressed together on the needles.. It's not a bad hole .. I just wish I has realized it was there so I could have fixed it. anyway.. I still like them and they will keep little Cameron's feet warm...For the next pair I'll try the other heal and see if I like that one better.
The yarn is my handspun and dyed sock yarn left over from my zig zag socks... It's so soft and not a bit scratchy.. just perfect for this project..I think I'm going to use the same yarn since they will be different colors.. (^_^)






























I Finished my hug scarf a few days ago.. it was late at night so I didn't get to post it..
The Pattern.. Hug..I like it but I think it would be even better with thicker yarn.
Yarn.. Lion wool ease thick and quick which is readly available at my job..

lil Cameron..!!

I just had to share pictures of Little Cameron and his sister Abby... he looks so warm and cozy in his hand knit hat and booties..laying on his hemlock ring blanket.. and what a sweet big sister..





























And...more baby socks are on the way...(^_^)

I'm still here..!!

I haven't blogged in a week and quite a lot has gone on in that time... baby Cameron and his mom are now home and doing great.. This past Saturday I attended Distaff Day. I have been wanting to go for a few years now and something has always prevented me from going... This year I was able to attend and was glad I did.. It was a very nice gathering of knitters and spinners from the central Florida area. Unfortunately I forgot my camera. Mary took a few picture and you can see them here..there was so much fiber to see and there and a fabulous show and tell..I'm amazed at the lovely items people knit. I met some very talented ladies.
Next I quickly knit another Chococat hat on my day off just in time for the cold weather we are having right now in Florida..It's so fun to be able to wear my hats and scarfs.. the weirdest thing is that I found my warmest scarf is this very long fun fur/lion boucle'.. hands down this is the warmest scarf ever...
















This is rather sad.. I'm still knitting Christmas present..I think I'll just call them winter presents from now on.. I started this silly scarf the other night.. The pattern is from Knitty.com fall 2008... It's called HUG.. so now I can send hugs to my family up north to keep them warm..I might make a couple more of these... and yes.. I am still working on my Flame socks. Last night was our INOKissimmee meeting and I worked on them for a couple of hours amid good conversation, hot coco and lots of chuckles.. I also got inspired to knit a few more baby socks because Becky is knitting up a pile of the cutest baby socks ever..!! I ran home and started digging through my sock yarn..
Chez Plum is whipping up some very pretty fiber and is having a contest.. take a peek!!!

welcome Cameron

Today a new baby entered our family.. Cameron. My daughter Brooke gave birth by c-section this morning at 7:41 am to a baby boy.. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 15 oz...and I hear he is cute with little round cheeks. While I waited for the phone to ring this morning .. I did 2 loads of laundry and took down the Christmas tree... then I worked on these little newborn socks that I had started 2 nights ago.. Hopefully I'll get some pictures in my email later tonight or tomorrow.. I was unable to fly up this time for the birth..maybe some time this summer I can visit. I can't wait to see him..!!!
















On the down side.. the news doesn't sound good for the recovery of my brothers best friend and partner.. she is out of ICU but it looks like she will have a long road of recovery ahead of her. Thanks for your prayers and thoughts. Here is the most recent news sent as an email and posted on his blog.

wow.. 2 posts in a day!!

I've been Turning a Square all day today... I think this is my all time favorite mens beanie.. So fun and fast to knit... I would like to knit this again with self striping yarn.. This hat was made with the left overs from 4th grade #2.. Ok.. now I'm going to browse through my gigantic ravelry queue and see what I would like to start knitting next.. (^_^)

hers and his.. his and hers..

I finished the 4th grade beret and found I had a lot of yarn left over.. so I decided to make the his version with the left over colors.. The pattern is Turn a Square by brooklyntweed...This hat will be for my son who also has a brown coat... This hat knits up fast and I'm up to the crown decreases already which makes the knitting go even faster.. I have been knitting for many years on and off and like to learn new techniques and like to find things to knit that I haven't tried knitting before... There were new techniques to learn with both of these hats even though the patterns were pretty simple and easy to knit... On the 4th grade beret .. I learned how to decrease both the width and length of the blocks as I knit to the top of the hat so that the blocks didn't become too long.. On the Turn a Square hat I relearned how to weave in the ends as I knit...now I just have to clip the ends off instead of having to weave them all in when the knitting is finished.. I previously saw how to do this but for some reason it didn't stick in my brain.. so I relearned and used the technique for this hat..I also used the jogless stripe technique that I also have known about but haven't used until now... A helpful link.. knitting in ends...

an afternoon of knitting

I had an afternoon of knitting time and this is what came out of it..4th grade #2. I have 4 tiers of entrelac left to knit and they are the smallest ones...only 3 and 2 stitches per block now. It kind of looks like a sunflower..
I work later tonight and plan to stop off at the walmart on the way home to pick up some baby laundry detergent. I have off tomorrow and have big plans for my time. 1st on the list is to take down the Christmas tree .. second is to wash all the baby items I had knit before the holidays and lay them all out to dry.. wrap them up and get them ready to ship out. My daughter is going to have her baby this coming Wednesday. The baby turned breech and she will have to have a c-section. Her original due date was the 19th so this is just a little sooner.. and I'm just behind on everything this year..but hopefully all will be out in the mail by monday.

Yes you see it there.. more sock yarn from Michaels. There are only few skeins left maybe by now there are none. All the Patons Kroy sock yarn was 50% off this week.. I really like how this yarn stripes and I already have the pattern that that I'm going use it for. I have no idea when I will get around to making them. I still have to finish the bf's flame socks. oh nose.. the stash grows again... 0.0
















My 4th grade hat is now finished and I love it. I used one ball of Noro Kureyon and on ball of black Phildar Lenox that I have had for a really long time in the stash. A few years back I visited with my sons in New York City and they took me to The Yarn Co. I bought 2 balls of Noro. I used one of them (and I can't even remember what I used it for) and I have been hording the last ball for about 3 years looking for just the right patten to use it for. I really love the colors of Noro but it is a bit out of my price range right now. So.. to make a long story short.. I saw the 4th grade pattern on ravelry and loving entrelac and wanting to make an entrelac hat for some time now.. bing!! There was a match..
































I really enjoyed making the hat so much so.. that I just had to make another. The next one will be a budget version of the first in bright spring colors. I'm making this for my niece. Can you believe that I'm still working on Christmas presents. Actually the first hat was supposed to be for her but then I found out the colors of her coats and decided just to make one that she could use with a brown or green coat.
















A couple of posts back I mentioned that my brothers gf Brook had a terrible accident and fell 20 feet off of a ladder. She is slowly recovering. She has just been taken off of life support and is doing well. I want to thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. For more information you can go here to see daily updates.
Thank you all again..

wips...

First I want to wish everyone a wonderful New year. I have had a pretty full work schedule this week and didn't have much time left over for blogging or knitting ... to be perfectly honest.. I don't even know what day it is today.. any way I'm glad that I have work.. I'm afraid to think of what will happen after the holidays are over and people tighten up on spending at Michaels... well not just Michaels but everywhere..
This week all the yarn is discounted at Michaels so I bought some Vanna's choice to make another entrelac hat. As spring approaches the trends are leaning towards bright colors.. yellow.. green.. orange .. etc... so I would like to make a few cheery entrelac hats.. I'm totally addicted to entrelac knitting right now. It's just so fun.





















Here is my progress so far. The pattern is.. 4th grade.. the yarn I'm using is Noro Kureyon and Phildar Lenox.


















And.. here is my progress on the bf's socks.. I'm still on the heal flap.. omy..