Spring is here!

 Spring has arrived in Washington state. This is a view of the street I live on. I woke up the other day and all the trees bloomed. The weather has warmed up a little and sometimes the sun peeks out hehe.
I have been thrift store shopping for large sweaters that I want to take apart for the yarn. I found these three the other day. The first was made in Ireland and is beautiful tweed wool. The pretty blue sweater is a Polo by Ralph Lauren sweater. I'm finding that Ralph Lauren makes very nice quality sweaters. (they are put together really well!) This sweater is wool, acrylic and rabbit hair, also a nice find. I love the color and was actually looking for this color yarn. The third sweater is 85% linen and 40% cotton. I love the color and it was only $4.99 for all that yarn! It will take me about two evenings to take it apart. I can't wait to knit something up with all the yarn. I have already taken apart the light blue sweater and wound it into skeins and washed it today. The yarn is very light and soft about a worsted weight. I have a few projects in mind for this yarn.

 More thrift store finds. Five balls of 100% cotton dk yarn. There is  about 700 yards of this. I'm looking at some shrug patterns for this. It will make a nice light cover up for work that I can use this summer. I also found 4 tiny beer glasses perfect for when we do our little beer tastings. The glasses were .69 cents each and the yarn was a total of $6. It was probably left overs from someones project.

 If you remember my last post, I took apart a large cotton Gap sweater. I'm in the process of knitting a cotton lace shrug with that yarn. I finished one side and now I have to knit another identical to that one. I memorized the pattern so this is my bus and work knitting project. This yarn has great drape and feels comfy.

 The undoing of a sweater.
 I picked it all apart, wound it into balls, then wound the balls into skeins and gave it all a bath. As this all dries I will be looking at pretty sweater patterns. I'm not sure of the yardage but there is a lot. I would guess at about 1000 yards. I guess this is my project this year... recycling thrift store sweaters that people no longer want and making them into something new and pretty!

new projects...

 I know it has been a while.. I basically have been working on one project the last few weeks. I thought I was knitting faster than I really was... so much time has gone by since my last post. We are experiencing some spring like weather here in Washington state. I say spring LIKE.. hehe.
So I decided to try something that I have been wanting to do for a while and that is buy a very large mans sweater from the thrift store, take it apart and then knit something wonderful out of the yarn. This is what I found after a hunt and search with my son. The price was good , 100% cotton. Let me tell you, that sweater was made very well. I was able to get almost all of the yarn with very little waste. I now have enough beautiful cotton aran weight yarn to make a good size sweater. More on this project in the future.

 Here is a picture of my Halo cowl. All the knitting is finished and I just have to join the ends and wash it. I really like how this turned out. It is very light and airy with a little glitter. Perfect for spring.

 I had to throw in this picture of the comfy seats I sit in on the bus on the way home from work. They are so comfy that sometimes I fall asleep!

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.