A sweater recycled... and a new sweater

 Back in April of 2014 I found this Eddie Bauer sweater at the thrift store. The yarn was a mixture of Linen, cotton and polyester, which gives it a nice drape and sheen.
I unraveled it in to many little balls of yarn after which I moved back to the east coast.

I found a cute little sweater pattern that I thought would look good knit with this yarn. It is the Summer waves pattern. So I cast on in May... knit at the park, at work .. everywhere you can knit and finished it in July.. I added a few rows of the lace pattern on the sleeves  and omitted the garter stitch edging on the neck edge and replace it with one row of single crochet.
The fit is perfect and I plan to wear this to work once the weather gets a little bit cooler. A success story!

A seven month recap...

 After my move, there were a lot of changes and issues to be dealt with. I now help take care of my two grandchildren and still work. That left not much time for blogging. So I give you a short picture view of the happenings for the last seven months..
My car was totaled,, then new cars.. knittng at the park.. more knitting at the park..(still working on some of the same sweaters :( ... Made it to the yarn shop... started making cupcakes and more cupcakes... visits from grand kids and family.. more knitting at the park,, sweater started... sweater finished...painting from my daughter.. refinished an old desk.. and plugging along on the same sweater..
I'm rediscovering Florida and just life I suppose, working through hard times and finding the good times..

More to come.. I have a sweater story for you!

Finally finished

 So...I finally finished and mailed out all the Christmas knitting.  I know, that's pretty sad. Lately I just don't have the time for knitting as I did in Washington. The good thing is everything fit and they liked the sweaters and matching hats. I always enjoy seeing people wear my hand knits ( especially with smiling faces).

 I made this cute little kitty style hat for my daughter. Years ago I made a bunch of kitty hats and she needed an new one. This pattern is the adult version of a kitty hat..

 Spending most of my days taking care of my grand kids and working. Add to that painting and cleaning out the house which doesn't leave much time for knitting. But I do. Just not as much as I used to..

A change in plans

 Good bye Washington state. Yes I had to move back to Florida for family matters. I will miss Washington.

 Back home.....and with the family again. We celebrated the boys birthdays playing mini golf. They grew so much in a year.

 So this is what I have been knitting since the day I left Washington. Because of the move and other issues I really have not knitted for a month. Just a few rows here and there.  This sweater was supposed to be a Christmas present for my 6 yr. old grandson but now that it is almost finished it fits the 4yr. old perfect. So I have to think of something different last minute. Toys are always a good substitute.

 Christmas is here already. No knitting was done this year. This is a first in many that I have not had a pile of knitted gifts for family. This year there were more pressing matters to take care of which left no time for knitting.
A vision from the past. I knit this sweater for one of my sons and it is in such good condition and has almost come back in style hahah. It fits Jayden perfectly!

I wish you all a wonderful New Year. I hope to post a little more this year.

hints of Autumn...

 Love this local little coffee stop. There are a lot of these independent coffee shops locally. This one is on the way to the thrift store where I found a bag full of granny squares just ready to put be put together. I think I am just going to make a blanket with them for the grand-kids.

 My progress on my scarf. I purchased this yarn at a local yarn shop. I'm actually farther along than this picture and only have two more center lace squares to go before I have to sew the ends together and it will be finished!

 Hints of autumn.

 The first cool misting morning on my way to work. Lots of anti hair frizzing gel in my future.

 Up with the birds and saw this pretty sunrise from my window. Soon it will be really dark in the mornings again. I am still working on my crochet sweater except I had to rip it out twice so it is smaller than it was in the picture in my last post... sigh..

Yarn Shops!

 I know I haven't posted for awhile. One of the reasons was that I was working on the sweater above and progress was going pretty slow even though it was my only project.  After working on the sweater for a month, I'm not all that happy with how it is turning out so I put it down for a week to decide if I want to put more time into something I'm not 100% happy with. In the mean time... my son came home after three months of working back east and took me to two local yarn shops. I haven't been to a yarn shop in over a year so this was like a little bit of heaven. The first stop was Pacific fabrics and crafts. It is a fabric and yarn shop, a little bit of everything. I didn't purchase anything there but there was definitely some beautiful yarns that I have in mind for the future. 

 The second stop was Great Yarns and yes I did purchase yarn there and plan to make this my regular place to pick up yarns. They had almost every type of yarn that I love. Both yarn shops are on the same road a few miles from each other and I found out very easy to get to!

The first yarn that caught my eye in the shop was the yarn I ended up purchasing. It is by Universal Yarn and it is the Classic Shades Sequins Lite. I love the rich colors. They remind me of fall. I'm knitting the Lacy Entrelac Infinity scarf and I have actually knitted this before a few years ago. I loved how it turned out. This version will have sparkles!
I also started on my Christmas knitting list. This little crochet cardigan will be for my granddaughter. The yarn is recycled from a very large thrift store sweater and is very soft and very  pink. I think she will like it.

Washington state has been having a very long and very warm summer . Even today it is in the 80's which is really warm for this time of year. I know it wont last though and soon (like tomorrow) the weather is going to change and get cooler and rainy. Thinking ahead, I found this book at my now favorite place to buy books, Half Price Books. So many hats to choose from. I will be able to knit tons of hats for everyone on my list, including me.  Oh and of course more rubber bands. I made the grand kids a bunch of charms and bracelets. They each got one with their name on it.

 Little butterfly bracelet.

 Puppy pencil hugger.

Until next time. Hopefully now that I have started a few different projects I will post more often.