Sweater Done -almost

DS#2 sweater is done except for buttons.

Yarn: Vanna's Choice by Lion Brand

Colors: Oive Green, Dusty Blue and Pea Green

Size US 9 needles

Overall a very easy knit. I think that the arms are going to be too short. I will wait until DS puts it on - if they are too short I will pick up around the cuff and knit in the Olive Green an additional little cuff.

However -- this is the front left side. I REALLY don't like the way it looks with the yarns carried around the edge. I'm not quite sure what to do about it. Maybe a single crochet edge??? Or 2-3 rows of ribbing???

If I were to knit this again, I would probably opt for some kind of variegated or solid color. Although it looks really cute in the stripes, it was a little bit of a hassle carrying the yarns up the side. If I chose to do it in stripes I would cut the yarns at the neck edge and reattach them at the sides. I think that would have given a much better appearance at both the neck edge and along the left side where the buttons will be going. I am toying with the idea of knitting 2 of these for my sister who is expecting twins in May. That would be kind of cool.

Mystery Shawl Along #6

I give you Artyarns Ultramerino in colorway #107. This picture is really pretty true to color.

Wound almost the moment Igot home with it!
Knit into a swatch for the Shawl!!! It is really yummy to knit with.

This swatch is on size US 6 addi Turbo Lace needles. I purchased both the yarn and the needles at Full Thread Ahead in Los Altos (love that store!!!). I wanted to go down a needle size and was going to get bamboo needles - I truly like the bamboo the best, just the way they feel. Hollis at the store convinced me to stay with the size 6's and then showed me the addi lace needles. I wasn't sure about either, but I decided to give them a try on her recommendation - I LOVE these needles for this!! And I feel the size 6 is perfect for this project.

What might you ask happened to: Mystic Waters? Secret of the Stole? Bee Fields? Hanami? Icelandic Shawl? and....and.....well......I can't seem to remain project monogamous. As I look forward to the new year and think about New Year's resolutions I realize that the only one I made last year I was unable to keep. I tried to dub 2007 as "The Year of the Finished Project". I was going to finish all those project that are already on the needles and not start anything new. Cough, Cough, I failed miserably :o) Maybe this year I could set a limit on the started projects - say, oh I don't know, not more than (insert number here).....Nah, that won't work!!!

"friend" dishcloth

This is my "friend" dishcloth hot off being blocked!!! These two mid-November cloths were really fun to knit and watch the pattern emerge. Now on to the December cloth.....

"my pal"

The latest dishcloth is cuter than it appears here. This is the best of about 10 photos that I took. It says "my pal" and has flowers. I love the message and also the seed stitch border.

There were actually two different dishcloths to make this time around in the dishcloth group and I did make both (finished 2 days ago) but the 2nd one is blocking. I should be dry by tomorrow.

It looks a little bit like knittin'

After all was said and done in the birthday department, and the cleaning done, there was knitting last night!! Oh, the joy of it. Just the right front and the finishing to do on this and DS#2 has a sweater for Christmas.

Off to do more knitting!!!

Birthdays NEVER end!!

Around here your birthday can drag on for a week or more depending upon where in the week your birthday lands. DD#3's birthday was last Tuesday - she had her class party and my in-laws came over for dinner to celebrate with her on her actual day. All very nice and cozy and my daughter loved it.

Round #2: The Friend Party

We had her party for all her friends yesterday which entailed another cake. She has always admired those "doll" cakes with the barbie sticking out of the top and the skirt being the cake so.... I made one for her.

The cake before any type of frosting. It is not a diet cake - lots of butter, eggs, and chocolate and more chocolate - it is her favorite cake so I had to use that recipe. I should however say that this cake recipe is for a bundt pan and usually takes 50 or so minutes to bake. In the "skirt" pan it took 2 and a half hours to bake all the way through - AAARGH!!!! It is extremely amazing (and also very lucky) that after the center was cooked the outside was NOT hard as a rock. It worked out just fine, but next time I use this particular pan I will choose a different recipe!! DD is helping to decorate the cake. We made the bigger flowers out of fondant and the really tiny ones are sprinkles that I found in the baking section of Safeway. She had a great time putting all the flowers on and really enjoyed being part of the process - from selection to completion. It was a lot of fun for me too :o)

Ta-Da! The finished product!

I don't know why she didn't want any of the little flower on the back, but it was her decision.

The second cake because I didn't think the doll cake would be enough to feed the kids and their parents. It turned out that I was right.

Very basic decorating. I was tired and out of creative juice by the time this one came around.

Instead of treat bags this year, I decided to assemble these and hand them out. They are little note pads for the kids to draw on. I printed the labels and stuck them on and for a little extra pizzazz I added the stars. The yarn so that they can wear these like a necklace is the yarn I dyed at knitting camp (she thought that was so-o cool) and there is a colored pencil stuck in the top of the spiral so the kids can take these with them anywhere and have an implement to draw with. All in all I think it was a success!!

NOW....that is not all said the cat in the hat, that is not all!!!!!

We still have lunch today at the house for her "family" party. My mom, sister, brother-in-law, nephew and in-laws will all be here around noon-time to celebrate. Good thing there is left-over cake from yesterday :o)

Not much knitting I am afraid to say :o(.

#4 child is 6

#4 child who is DD#3 is now 6. Boy how the time flies. Her Kindergarden teacher met her when she was 2 days old and we both cannot believe that she is getting so big!! My in-laws came over to celebrate with us.

Her favorite chocolate cake recipe (also Grandpa's favorite!!).

DD#1 and DS#1 wanted mustaches as I was frosting the cake so I happily obliged. As you can tell, I will have many stories and possibly a slide show at their wedding rehersal dinners :o)
Cupcakes for school - same recipe as above just added sprinkles for added interest and maximum sugar intake.

Now to get ready for the party for her friends on Saturday (yet another cake) and another family gathering on Sunday - my family can come on Sunday and of course my in-laws will be here. All in all a way to just make the birthday last almost one full week. Emma Rose is an excited, happy camper!

The only thing I have to think about is......the goody bags for her friends to bring home from the party. I would rather not put in candy or a bunch of junky toys. What to do.....?

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!! (belated) At the last moment we decided to go to Kirkwood to play in the snow. We left on Wednesday and just got back yesterday. There was not much snow - but we had a great time anyway. Kirkwood made snow and we got to do a lot of sledding. The kids were in heaven!! We had lots of down time as a family (no screens or electronics of any kind there) and played games, read books and just generally hung out. A most excellent time was had by all!!

Only a little knitting got done but there was progress made:

"A Very Berry T-Shirt"

Several inches - the color is just perfect for DD#2

More was done on the hat. As you can see, I added fun fur to the last couple of rows on this hat and now it looks "fluffy". DD#3 is into "fluff".

Because of the addtion of the fun fur, when the last round of knitting is cast off and 17 stitches on each side are put on dpns for the ear flaps, the stitches want to slide off of the dpns. I didn't know what to do - how do I keep those stitches on the needle while I knit the other ear flap. DH to the rescue .... Chip Clips of course!!! They are working out quite nicely!! Hopefully tonight I will be able to finish this hat :o)

Progress!!

Clue #1 of the Mystic Waters is complete!! I am totally enjoying this knit - the chart is easy for me to read and I truly like the finished product. I cannot wait to work on Clue 2 :o)

A closeup of the beads I chose. They are really, really subtle. I hope that they "pop" a little more after this shawl is blocked. I do like the color of them against the yarn.
DD#3's hat started. The way the color is working out is really nice. I think she will like it a lot. I still have not woven in the ends of the other hat. Soon maybe...... knitting is such an obsession!!

I will leave you today with a picture of our newest members of the family. My daughter loves animals so much and she takes care of them so well that I just couldn't say no when she asked for another guinea pig. We were going to surprise her for the holidays, but I didn't have the heart to make her wait. They are as yet unnamed. She wants to wait until they "grow" into names. We will see what she chooses :o)

Another bookmark

This is the latest bookmark from the bookmark group. I seem to finish these always about a week late. It could be that I like to block them to make the patterns show up a bit better. Blocking also makes them flatter :o). I have no idea of the colorway but this is crochet cotton in size #10 on US#1 needles.

A closeup of the pattern. I would say that I really like it, but I seem to say that just about everything I knit :o)

The whole thing.
Knitting around here is slowly progressing. DS#1 hat is done but the ends still need to be woven in. DS#2 sweater has progressed to the Right Front decrease stage so should be going a little faster - It is nice that the sleeves are knit as you go so after the right front is complete I just have to complete the left front and put buttons on. Kind of cool! Started DD#3's hat and have partial cast-on for DD#2's T-shirt. DD#1 scarf is laguishing right now as well as DH's sweater. Oh, Well.....I still have a little time left!

Pre Thanksgiving Celebration

Our Thanksgiving celebration went really well and was loads of fun! Just about everyone in the family came (31 in all) and it was a great time. I wish I had taken more pictures, but after the family started showing up, I just talked and forgot about my camera! Oh, well, I have some shots of some of the things that I made for our celebration..

Stuffing

Vegetable Medley

Cranberry Chutney

Green Beans with lemon sauce

Regular old chocolate chip cookies made by the kids-YUMMY

Peanut Butter cookies with a miniature reeses peanut butter cup inside

Triple Treat Bars

Parsimmon cake made by one of my friends for the occasion

I did make a turkey and a whole bunch of appetizers and everyone brought something to share, but this is the extent of my picture taking on this Thanksgiving - better pictures next year :o)

On the knitting front - not too much accomplished this weekend. Kept plugging along on the holiday gifts and Mystic Waters. I am making progress, just everything kind of looks the same as it did last week - blobs of knitting, but nothing finished!! Soon I hope!

In Progress

OK. First I forgot to add what yarn I used for the squirrel dishcloth. It is a really nice yarn and it was probably a little wasteful to use it for this project, but I am glad I did or I wouldn't have known how soft it was. It is Luna from Cacade Yarns and is 100% Peruvian Cotton. It is washable and dryable and very nice to knit with. This yarn was one of the yarns we got in our goodie bag from Knitting Camp. I just found a pattern for Pocket Book Slippers on Hakucho's Blog that I think will go nicely with this yarn. Gift for next year possibly???

This is the hat for DS#1 in progress. I love it and more importantly, I think my son will like it :o) My DH has asked for one in the same colorway so I need to go back to my LYS and ask how to make this a wee bit bigger. This is turning out to be a very quick knit. It is easy and fun and the way the color changes is great to watch. I can't wait to finish this one and start the next in the other colorway!
This is a progress shot of DS#2's sweater. It is at the point where I can start the neck shaping. This is also a fun and quick knit. It is hard to quit knitting when I get to change colors every two rows........"I'll just quit after the next color change...well maybe the next.....just one more" :o)!

Off to fix the lunches for the kids for school today and then to start preparations for our big Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night! That's right, a few days early. We always celebrate Thanksgiving the Saturday before Thanksgiving. More of the family can come (less conflicts) which makes for a GREAT time. It is always here at our home and I usually feel relatively under control until right about now when the list of things to do is getting longer and I don't seem to be making any headway! It all gets done in the end and we all have fun so no worries!


Our small home shouldn't have any trouble at all in hosting 33 people - HAH!!

Squirrel Dishcloth

Ta da - the November dishcloth. A cute little squirrel

He is just so cute, I had to get a closeup of him.
More in progress photos tomorrow. I am about half way done with a hat for DS#1, just about ready to do a front on DS#2's sweater, on row 29 of Mystic Waters, ready to cast on for DD#2 shirt and have been working on DD#1's scarf. If you are keeping count, that means than DD#3's hat is not yet even in the running, and DH sweater is languishing.

I read on the Yarn Harlot's blog yesterday that there were 42 days of knitting left - 41 as of today. EEEEEK!!! I better get my needles clicking :o)!!!

Mystic Waters KAL

We are all sad over here in my corner of the woods. Our beloved pet guinea pig passed away yesterday. We will miss you Brownie and hope you know that you were loved. Brownie was just a regular guinea pig that dd#2 picked out when she was 5. That was 4 1/2 years ago. Taking care of Brownie was her responsibility. Every morning she would get up and feed, water and get Brownie some kind of treat. Brownie was played with everyday and received lots of hugs. DD#2 is devastated. Take care Brownie, we loved you lots.

Onto some knitting content because knitting always cheers me up.

I am just now starting the Mystic Waters KAL. I knitted up this swatch yesterday and brought it to knit night. As you can see, I used several sizes of needles because I was unsure of which size would look the best with this yarn.

If you are reading this post and wouldn't mind letting me know which size needle you like the best that would be great. At knit night the reigning winner was US size 4, with 3 and 5 coming in second. Look below for close up shots of the knitting with each size needle.

My personal favorites are sizes US 3 & 4, but I could be swayed :o)!

Stash Enhancement

Lovely yarns have made their way into my home. All just ready to be cast on for a new project!! It is truly not my fault! The yarn...it keeps attacking me. Every time I walk into Full Thread Ahead it jumps off the shelves and into my basket or onto the top of my stroller. Once it is there, I cannot abandon it, I just NEED to take it home and turn it into something. String into a wearable object still amazes me. I know how it works, but I look to the right of me where the ball of yarn is and I look down at my needles and that piece of string coming from the ball of yarn has magically transformed itself into a little piece of fabric. One day I am sure this will not be so amazing to me, but I cannot even imagine that day. So I revel in new yarns and new projects :o)

The two balls of yarn above are destined to be hats for #1 son and #3 daughter. The topmost yarn is Classic Worsted Tapestry from Universal Yarn Inc. in the colorway called Coal Fire. I think my son will love it! The bottom yarn is Inspire from Wisdom Yarns in the colorway #6 (I hate numbers, I love inspirational names :o) I have never knit a hat before so I am a little bit nervous, but Hollis had a pattern from her mom that I liked so I will try it. She has never steered me wrong before. I am also going to knit night tonight (if my husband gets home on time) to start it and get going. That way if I run into snags there are a few people who can help me out. Hopefully I will be able to make some progress.

These lovelies are Cotton Classic Color from Tahki Yarns in colorway #104 (another number :o(). The picture shows it to be a little more blue than it really is. The color is more of an overall teal looking color and is just so pretty. It is destined to become the Very Berry T-shirt from Magknits and designed by Lucia Tedesco. I made one of these in a variegated pinky/purple color for dd#3 and now dd#2 would like one. The blue/green will go perfectly with her blue eyes. I simply will have to cast on for this in the next few days!!!

This is the only yarn I went to the store to find. I was looking for something for the Mystic Waters Mystery KAL. This is what I found. It is so pretty and soft and the colors remind my of the ocean. It is Melody superwash from Jojoland in the colorway MS16 (EEEK another number, I had no idea) - I will call it "Deep Ocean". I am currently knitting my swatch to see what size needles will look the best and the color after knitting is gorgeous. I have completed swatching size US1, US2, US3 and am working on US4 and then will go up to US5 just for comparison. I am hoping to be done with the swatch by tonight so I can ask the ladies at knit night what they think. I think just by looking at it unblocked that the size US1 is too small. The fabric is too dense and is curling very badly, but I will wait to see what everyone else says.

A closeup of this beautiful, soft yarn

The beads I have chosen for the Mystic Waters. I think they are perfect for the yarn. I usually like shinier beads, but these matte ones are really nice and I don't think I could have gotten a more perfect color to go with the yarn.

This monstrosity is Oceana from Cherry Tree Hill in the colorway Northern Lights. It has quite a bit of sparkle in it that did not show up in the picture and is quite pretty. It is destined to become the swing coat below. Although the picture on the pattern is not very inspiring, I have seen two knitted up and worn that are very striking. I couldn't pass the display rack without getting one of these :o)