Holy Cow Batman, She's Been Knitting!!

No more crazy Sally, no more crazy Sally.....

oops, sorry, I'm still on Cloud 9 over that one :) It was amazing quiet and calm at work today. The crazy woman has left the building for the rest of the week, so I get to finish out my days in peace. *There is a God*

Well, as we all know WWKIP Day was last Saturday and of course my SNK group participated! We went to a local strip mall and hung out in the court yarn area. It was terrific. Harris Teeter had just opened up and our fearless leaders went over and demanded that they cater to us *just kidding!, but they did inform HT that we were there and if they could do anything for us we would greatly appreciate it* They brought us this cart of bottled waters, bins with ice to cool down the water, boxes of cookies, bags of chips, platters of veggies, it was AWESOME!



Looks like one of the local kids had fun putting some soap in the fountain!


And, what you have all been waiting for..... drum roll please....

Knitting updates!!

First up is a hand towel.

Pattern: Mason-Dixon Moss Grid Hand Towel
Yarn: Kraemer Tawany Tweed DK in Lime (1 skein)
Needles: Addis size 5
Modifications: 11 repeats instead of 12.

This yarn was very nice to work with, and the pattern was quickly memorized.

With some leftover cotton yarns I made a Swiffer cover. I'm tired of buying those damn pads all the time and throw them away after just one use. So I've decided to use left over cotton yarns and make me some swiffer covers!

Pattern: Ballband Dishcloth Reusable Swiffer Cover
Yarn: left over cotton yarns
Needles: Bamboo size 7
Modifications: None

All I need to do is sew up the site and put that sucker on my swiffer and start swiffering! This was such a quick knit, I have a 2nd one started already!!



I started a pair of socks for my father. They were suppose to be a Father's Day gift. As you can see, I did not get them done in time, but since it's summer and my father rarely wears socks in the summer, I don't feel guilty, Well, that and the fact that my sisters and I went in on a Bocci Ball set for him :)



Next up in the Luna Moth Shawl. This is my sister's birthday present *we won't linger on the fact that her birthday was back on June 9th* Do you see a slight procrastination theme here in my knitting?? I'm not sure I'm going to have enough yarn to finish it! Bummer!! I have to call the store that I bought the yarn from and pray that by some miracle of miracles they have another skein in that same dye lot. If not, I'm screwed. I also added beads to jazz it up a bit.



Dum-dum-dum!! *music crescendo* That dreaded Shetland shawl. I have finally finished it, but I'm not sure it's big enough! I am debating on frogging back the edging, winding up the other skein of yarn and continuing in the pattern till it's a bigger size. Then Tulabug can arrange the dye party she wants to have in Sheila's studio. But I need to make a decision quickly, because I need to have it dyed and blocked before my surgery since my other sister's birthday in August 9th!



I am still knitting along on my Secret of the Stole II mystery knit. Although the KAL is long over, my shawl is only about half-way knit. I have completed clue 4 and am starting clue 5.



And last, but certainly not least...
Finally, something for myself and I do plan to finish this one *that is if I can ever get gauge* I purchased this neat cardigan pattern at MDSW this year along with the yarn - Autumn House Sagamore in Antique Garden. The problem is that I did not pay attention while at MDSW *I blame is on the high from the yarn fumes and my fondling obsession* The pattern calls for a yarn that is thicker than the yarn I purchased! The pattern was on display right next to this stunning colored yarn that I just naturally assumed *yeah, I know what assume breaks down to, you don't need to remind me* it was the yarn called for on the pattern. Live and learn. But I wasn't giving up,. I hunted my LYS and online to find a yarn that I could add to the Sagamore to make it the thickness that I needed. I bought some nice light fingering weight yarn in bamboo. Unfortunately, I knit up a swatch last night and I don't have gauge *grrrrr* I don't think the bamboo yarn is thick enough. I'm thinking of purchasing linen to add to it this time. Maybe some Euroflax. I just love how the colors look in the swatch. I can't wait to have this cardigan finished! I swear I'll wear it in bed while I'm healing from my surgery! *giggle*



To wrap up this post.... I have discovered that my kitty likes Spinach and Artichoke Hummus! Who'd a thunk it??

Mother Nature's Beauty

We finally had our first REAL snowfall on Thursday. It started right around 11:30 ish. Then about 45 minutes later it was REALLY snowing. Big fluffy flakes. This was the pretty picture I saw when I looked out the windows of my media center.



Then I just couldn't resist and step outside the emergency exit door and took a few more pictures of the snow falling. Look at how big those flakes are! The only thing that would have made this all the more perfect would have been to watch the snow fall from the comfort of my own home, in my PJ's and slippers, wrapped in one of my afghans, and a nice hot latte in my my hands enjoying a snow day!





When I got home from work that day I found this at my door! *SQUEAL* I love when I get packages!



The first package was this Japanese crochet pattern book. The book is Crochet Motif Items. I bought it so that I could get the pattern to make this. I fell in love with that since I first came across it months ago! I had found the book on the Japanese site of Amazon, but I couldn't seem to order it. I was telling Joan at one of the S 'n B Wednesday's about how I was trying to find this book and she directed me to this site, and I found it and bought it!! Thanks Joan!!



Here's an update on my current WIPs.

The Wave Scarf is up to 26". I can't remember what number skein I am on, but my order for the four extra skeins came in. Of course the dye lots did not match the six skeins I had bought months ago, but by some miracle of miracles the new skeins match the older skeins what seems like perfectly! *PHEW* I was so pleased. I went ahead and used one of the new skeins and then brought the project to a S 'n B session and asked a few of the gals there if they could tell where the new skein started and/or stopped. No one could!!! So, just to be safe I am alternating skeins between the two different orders. I am hoping that over this nice long weekend, I will finish this scarf... maybe.... maybe not. Sorry, the pictures is a bit dark. I'll take a better one soon.



Next up, I joined the Secret of the Stole ii KAL (SOTSii). This is one of those KAL where you get a little bit of the pattern at a time along with a few clues and you need to try and guess the connection. This is my first official lace project. I am so excited about it! It was suggested that we use a solid, earthy color. I had purchased a skein of Skacel Merino Lace in Eggplant. I fell in love with the rich purple color. I got it at a 30% discount because it looked like some of the strands had been cut. We couldn't really tell without winding it up. The lady in the shop said she would give me a discount cause she wasn't sure, but that with the discount it would have to be a final sale. I took the chance because I loved the color so much and I didn't want to fall behind in the KAL. Oh, I sooooo shouldn't have bought that skein. It was a pure disaster trying to ball up that skein. I don't know what happened, but it kept getting tangled and my kitty kept trying to play with the yarn. I finally gave up and called a few of the LYS so see if any of them had the same yarn in the same color. *sigh* No luck, but A Tangled Skein, did have the yarn in other colors. So, I hopped in my car and drove down. I found this pretty berry color and bought it and had THEM wind it for me. Of course she had no problems winding the skein. So now I have this skein of purple at home that I don't want to throw away, but I'm also not looking forward to trying to untangle and wind. Anyhoo! I'm looking forward to working on my first lace project!!



Next up is the WhoDuKnit Mystery KAL. This project will only take about 200 yards of a worsted weight yarn. So I went stash diving to see what single skeins I had and found this beautiful blue that I bought eons ago. It's Cascade 220 Heather in Midnight. I just love the color! I'm currently in the middle of clue #3. Just 2 more clues and I should have a finished scarf!



Last, but certainly not least. The baby blanket! Look! I'm all done knitting and it's blocking on my dining room table. Now comes the part I dread.... seaming!! I have 4 skeins of this yarn leftover. Oh what to do with it... any suggestions?

So far to date, this is the piece I am most proud of, even if it was the most difficult to make - not talking pattern wise, the pattern was relatively easy.