Well...I haven't blogged in a while because I was planning a trip to
Washington state to visit my boys and working some extra hours and things like that. So I am finally here in Washington having a wonderful time . I have gone hiking in the forest to the beach and visited 2 yarn shops and played euro board games. Of course I brought lots of knitting projects with me and took over the living room table. I'm blogging on my phone and will catch you up on my vacation when I return home.

knitting shenanigans

This week I got to go to the parks with the family. The garden show just started and we got to see butterflys  and pretty flower displays. The little ones really liked the butterflys. Jayden posed for pictures in the new Disney film Oz posters. These were pretty cute. All he needs is a little top hat.

 On to knitting... I had to decide which color to use for the next striped short row section of my Simple Sprinkle scarf. The orange was supposed to be the next color and would be knit with the black. I just didn't want it to look like halloween colors so I decided to go with the yellow yarn instead. This will be color number 7. I had also added and extra color in the last simple sprinkle scarf that I had knit which worked out well . More pictures of this in a few days when I get more of the next section knit.

 Remember this sweater... well... I love the color and the pattern but I ran out of yarn. I had two other yarns in the same color but they were not all exactly the same. I got to the point where I just needed to knit the last front edge and that's where I ran out of the main yarn. I tried knitting the sleeves with one of the other yarns but the color was way off. Well I didn't just try to knit the sleeves I actually finished them in the other yarn. At that point I rolled the sweater up and stuffed it in a bag and put it in the closet. On my last trip to the yarn shop I made the decision to purchase a completed new yarn and bought more than enough to make a whole new sweater. As you can see in the picture the yarn is the exact same color as the main yarn... but I am not tempted to just knit the sleeves and the front edge... I will start fresh... I'm really not temped.

More unfinished projects that I hope to work on this week. All I have to do is finish the heart in duplicate stitch on this baby blanket. I think I can do it... and below is a chunky sweater I started when we had a little cold spell here. This sweater was on my ravelry queue for this winter and I had purchased the yarn in the fall but the weather got so warm I really didn't want to knit it until last week. As of now I almost have the body finished to the point where I separate it for the arm holes. Our weather has been so crazy... cold then hot and then cold again. I started to feel a little sick again today and hopefully a good nights rest will make me feel better tomorrow.

Picture view of the the last two weeks..

 Above is a picture of a little boo boo that I fixed on the Simple Sprinkle #3. I had split the yarn and wanted to fix the stitch. I use a double sided crochet hook to fix garter stitch which works well. 
Below is a picture of the BF's two new grand daughters. One is one day old the other just a few hours in this picture. Pretty little cousins.  How presious!

 This ball of Rasta has been hanging around in my stash for quite awhile. I have been hording it for just the right project. It was a gift from a good friend. I decided on a pattern called Leaving on the edge which others have made with Rasta. So far so good.

 A trip the local Old town Black Rock Minerals. I love all the imported instruments. They are very pretty and have unusual sounds.

 As you can see Simple Sprinkle #3 is all fixed and is moving along. I did come into another problem with the two darkest colors being knit together as stripes. I was trying to work it out so they wouldn't be next to each other by using one of the other colors but then they would have to be knit together at the ends. So I just will knit them as stripes. I ran out of colors to substitute. I just need to finish it now so it can be used before the weather warms up.

 Well as you can see I ran out of yarn with 2 rows and the bind off left to finish. Not sure what I am going to do. I guess just pull out 2 rows and hope it looks ok. 
I have had a few weeks of extra hours and one week with only one day off. This explains my absence. I would just come home from work and zone out. Read and go to sleep. There was a construction make over at my job and some of the associates had to work over night leaving just a few of us to work during business hours. It was very hectic and tiring. That is now over and hopefully things will get back to normal and knitting will get done!! (^_^)

knitting today...

 My Left lace cardi is moving along. I finished both sleeves and grafted the shoulder seams and picked up the stitches for the right fronts. They will form a wrap style front. The directions were a little confusing but I figured it out. There was a little mistake where it said to pick up all the stitches around the right front, back of neck and left front. But it should say to stop on the center of the back neck because that is where you start  to pick up the stitches for the left front after you have completed the right front . Below is a picture of the grafted shoulder seem.

 I started another Simple sprinkle infinity scarf a few days ago. Probably more like 5 days ago haha. This one will be a man scarf. I had an issue with two of the yarns I purchased being too thin and had to hunt around the house for something that would work better. I had to replace the black with a yarn that has shades of grey to black. It looks ok but I would have preferred the black. They no longer had that color at the yarn shop and we tried to substitute for something similar but it didn't work. Now I have a ball of black and cream dk that I will have to find a project for. This is now my travel project.

This is a little doggy sweater and a matching hat for the doggy's owner that my daughter knit. I thought it was so cute I had to share.

a day off ... a day at the beach

 Today I had a day off and the bf said what do you want to do and I said .. go to the beach and then eat Italian food. So that is what we did. Even though it was 80 degrees it was pretty windy and  felt a little cold for us Floridians. The beach was still wonderful. I sat and knit and then put my feet in the water and watched the waves go in and out. Why does the ocean make such a pleasant sound. There were also all these little jelly fish washing up with the tide so you had to watch where you stepped. They were a pretty aqua blue color. Like little aqua blue bubbles. Almost the color of my knitting. After the beach we ate at Big Italy in Orlando.. So yummy and they have a $2.00 special every day. Today it was a glass of wine for $2.00. (^_^)

on and off the needles..

The little woodsy association mitts are finished except that I need to make the badger paw and find little rings to attach them to the mitts. They are super cute and I love them and have worn them already. They are just perfect for a cooler Florida evening.

 I finally finished my mulitdirectional scarf. The Malabrigo yarn is very soft. Then of course on to other projects. I get these ideas in my head and have to act upon it right away. I saw a picture of a quilt and thought that could be done with yarn so I ran to the store with a few dollars and picked up my first ever supersaver yarn and whipped up a quick little blanket on the knitting machine. As of now I am adding two rows of double crochet to the edges and plan to duplicate stitch and embroider the rest on to the blanket. I used a loose tension and it helped to make the yarn a bit softer.

Like everyone else I had been sick what seemed like forever.. took a couple days off from work after a trip to the er..Then went straight into a 7 day work week and yesterday was my first day off... yay... worked on all of my knitting projects and went to my knitting group last night... so....
 Here is the progress on my little Lace cable shrug. I'm working the sleeves flat two at a time. The fronts and back are finished. There is a long story connected to this shrug and I will get into it next time. There is a yarn issue. Getting in a few more rows before work. (^_^)

wip progress of the day..

 Little by little the multidiagonal scarf is growing. I never noticed that it almost matches my couch. 
Below are some new yarns for up coming projects. The greenish cotton yarn is for a pretty little vest.. here.. The camera does not want to pick up the true color which is a very bright blue green. Very bright. I'm still not sure about the color.. I'm thinking on it. The yarn was just so pretty. There was also a very light shade of grey that I also liked. I may exchange it.

 More yarn for another Simple Sprinkle infinity scarf. This one will be for a guy. The yarn I purchased yesterday are the five on the bottom. I need one more color. I was hoping for a deep red but there was non in this weight yarn so one of the top three colors will be added. I'm also thinking on this too.

 Last but not least are my little woodsy mitts that I totally messed up. Don't knit projects that call for thinking when you don't feel well. I wanted a mixed pair, one raccoon and one badger. That part was fine but the placement of the badger isn't the same as the raccoon.. and when did I notice this... right now when I took the picture. It is not worth ripping out 2 days of duplicate stitch. It would be less work just to make another one. More on this story later. Anyway I hope to finish the badger face today and sew them up possibly later this evening after work and then start the little dangles.