A Sunday blog..

A recap of the last few weeks.
 We got snow...again.. but then it melted the next day and rained.
A tragic event.. my needle broke. I was knitting next to my son and got up for a second and my needle fell on the floor.. he moved his chair unfortunately right on my needle and it broke. I ran out to Joann's fabrics to see if the interchangeable needles they sell there would work on my cables and they do! I was so happy because this all happened on my day off.. the day I had planned to finish my sweater. I ran back home and was still able to get some knitting done. Eventually I will replace the broken harmony needle so that I have a complete set. 

 On the way home from work I lost my hat in the mall some where. I went back to trace my steps and asked in the two stores I walked in but no one had found it.. so the next day I whipped up this hat.

 Poor little snow man melted by the afternoon after the snow..

Another Sunday walk to Trader Joes. I love trees and greenery here. It smells so fresh.

 Finally I finished my Miette sweater! It fits perfect, I just haven't been able to get a good picture of it.

 Another walk to the bus on a beautiful Washington day. Cool, crisp and sunny.

 Yay... a new project. This is the Halo cowl by Grace Mcewen. This pattern can be found on ravelry. The yarn I'm using is Patons Lace with sequins. It is so pretty.

 The Sister hat.. My sister saw my hat and wants one just like it! Well she is lucky because I just lost my hat yesterday somewhere at work. I has to be in the building somewhere. No one could find it. I really do not feel like making the same hat again. I'm thinking I may just purchase a hat on sale. I saw some at JC Penny's. This way if I loose that one I wont mind as much.

just knitting

For some reason I am working on one project right now... the Miette sweater. I love the simple design of this sweater. It reminds me of sweaters back in the 60's. I did a gauge swatch and for some reason I think I'm knitting a little tighter than I did for my swatch. The size small is 34" and I measure 32" in the bust. So hopefully all will be ok. I should be starting on the sleeves some time today or tomorrow.
I have started and early morning shift one day a week to work on shipping shoes from the store. I have to be at the bus stop at 7am. Here is a picture of the dark early morning.. hopefullly spring will bring some early morning sunshine.

Sunday... time to blog!

  

Lots of finished projects this past week.(Well two.. that's a lot) Above is the finished painting. This was painted from a photo I took of my sister in the Cayman Islands. I was afraid of ruining the painting because it was hard to paint that tiny little head with a face and not make it look like a blob. It's not perfect but its visually ok.

Below is my almost finished scarf neck sweater. At the neck edge I picked up the stitches and just kept knitting back and forth adding decreases on each end as needed to taper the scarf down to almost a point. . The original pattern is called Idlewood and can be found on Ravelry.

 Finally finished and I love it. I did a few mods besides the neck like the ribbing at the bottom and knitting the sleeves long and adding a thumb hole. This ended up being a warm cozy sweater.

 Yes... I started another sweater... and got some nice warm new boots on sale at work. These boot are so comfy and warm too!

 This little sweater is already coming along. This has been on my knitting queue for awhile and I really have been wanting to make it. I just didn't want to use this yarn. Things are tight this year so rather than not knit the sweater I bought Lion Brand wool-ease in a pleasing soft grey. Maybe some day in the near future I will knit another in some pretty cotton yarn. This pattern is called Miette and can also be found on Ravelry. What attracted me to this sweater are the darts and I already like the fit and I'm excited about the outcome. I guess this year will be the year of knitting sweaters!

almost there...

 A happy boy and girl. It always makes me feel good to see the people I knit for wearing and liking what I knit for them.

 This sweater is progressing little by little. It has become my travel knitting project even though it has gotten a little too big for my back pack. I have been knitting on the bus to and from work and in the break room. I'm working on the neck now and plan to do something weird. More to come on that.

 Break room knitting (^_^) I love knitting on my break, it seems to relax me and then I'm ready for the rest of the work day.
My wonderful sister bought us a couch for our new apartment. It took awhile to get here but it was worth the wait. Our apartment now feels like home, plus it is gorgeous. Thank you sis!

 In between knitting and work there has been time for a little painting. I still have to add something to this painting of the ocean. This is from a picture I took when I went to the Cayman islands. My son painted the bottom two in his unique style. They look pretty awesome hanging in the living room.  He actually paints them in little color series.

A new year...

 Here are the last of our Christmas presents that arrived in the mail. My grandkids picked out all my presents this year and they were so thoughtful. I got a necklace the color of the ocean and some warm fleece pj's to keep me warm. My daughter canned some yummy pear and apple sauce. There were some canned pears but they broke. :(

 Progress on my sweater.. The length is perfect and all that is left are five rows of garter stitch. Today I hope to start the sleeves or the cowl neck. I'm using three different colors of Lion Brand Amazing yarn starting with the lightest color at the top to the darkest color at the bottom. I will do the same with the sleeves and the cowl. I want to make the sleeves long enough to make thumb holes so that they will be like fingerless gloves. This sweater will be my at home cozy warm sweater.

 A picture of my beautiful granddaughter. She is getting so big and lovely. <3

This little fox is something I whipped up as a present for my niece for Christmas. The pattern for this will be available soon. I will let you know when I publish it.

Last knitting of the year!!

Today is the last day of 2013 and these are the two projects I will be knitting today. This  year has been very full. I visited 3 different beach locations this year. Florida, Cayman Islands and Washington state. I have moved across the country and changed job locations. There was a lot to deal with. I'm looking forward to the new year and new beginnings.

Wishing you all a wonderful new year filled with health, love and success. Thank you for visiting my blog and your interest in my knitting. May this be a year filled with lots of beautiful knits too!!

Christmas knitting

 Yes I have been AFK so to speak.... between Christmas knitting and working retail... I have been busy.
 Top picture is of a potato chip scarf I knit out of some handspun that has been hanging around in the stash for many years. I think this was the perfect project for it. This is a present for my daughter. I'm also behind on getting my presents mailed but this will go out tomorrow.

 And there was snow! I woke up to go to work and saw this. I have to say it felt very cold and my feet got numb. Some people are saying we are going to have snow in January and others are saying no. If we do get snow I will have to invest in some snow boots. I don't like frozen feet... I was very beautiful though.

 I started this scarf back  in October, but I only work on it traveling on the bus and at work on my breaks. It ended up being 6"X66" long. My son really likes the pattern.. yay.

 Some good friends couldn't use their Christmas tree this year and let us borrow it. My first Christmas in Washington. We spent a quiet day watching every Christmas movie there is and some other popular movies. We had our Christmas Breakfast and my son baked a chicken for dinner and we sat around and chatted.

 My daughter and grandsons.. <3

 Walking to work on Saturday I came across a whole row of mossy trees. They are awesome. I could only get a good picture of one with my phone. 

Another cowl for my daughter. This one is crochet. At first I didn't like how it turned out. I had to go down a needle size because that is all I had here. When I finished it, the cowl was stiff so I added a tie. After I washed it, it became very soft and drapes nicely now.

 This is a Hounds tooth hat for my son that didn't quite make it for Christmas day. I'm still working on it and hopefully will finish it this week. The weather warmed up here so I guess he doesn't mind.
Below is a sweater I started for myself on Christmas day. I really dislike the pink color that is right next to the yellow and I think I'm going to rip back to the pink and cut it out. I think I will be happier with the color. The other pink on the needles is a softer color although it doesn't look like it in the picture. More on this sweater next time. I plan on making a few changes to the pattern.
 Hopefully now that the holidays are over I can blog a little more regularly. Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and have a Happy New Year!