update & "pets"

Well on my way to finishing blanket #3. 4 of the strips are complete, 3 are sewn together and the 4th is pinned in place most likely to be sewn this evening after the kidlets are all snuggled down in bed.
WHAT!!! Is this the start of a new project!!!! What!!! That can't be right??! Oh, but sadly (or not-I found it pretty exciting) that is exactly what it is. A new project.

I tell ya - I'm just a little monkey!. The above is the start of the Scrappy Lengthwise Scarf. I found it on Made by Lindy. She is an 18 year old who is just amazing. Anyway she knit this scarf and won a prize at her local fair. How neat is that? The pattern is a free Ravelry download by Zona Sherman. I am planning on using this pattern to use up extra dishcloth cotton. I have lots and lots of leftover dishcloth cotton.....

This was the cause for much excitement at our home.

It is a praying mantis egg sack. They should take about 3-6 weeks to emerge. We can't wait! The kids are beyond thrilled - they are "vibrating" with excitement. I'm kind of interested too - what do baby praying manits' look like anyway?

Misc. Knitting

This dishcloth is from the Yahoo Group Knit Dishcloths. It is their KAL from March 22nd. I don't seem to be able to keep current with these KALs but I find them fun just the same :o)

Started: 4/13/10

Finished: 4/25/10

Needles: US5

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton

Color: 298 Sherbert Swirl

Lot: 7698

The top photo shows the detail of this cloth much better, but this one shows the color. The color seems a bit washed out - in person it is just a wee bit brighter.

Remember the "monkey" syndrome???? Well, here it is in action. We were in Placerville for part of spring break. It was our "home base" for a family gold rush trip - such a blast. Anyway, there was a very cute yarn store there that I found I HAD to visit. The two oldest girls went with me - they seem to be catching the bug. They fell in love with this yarn - the sample scarf hanging in front of the yarn had nothing whatsoever to do with it!! The above is 2 balls knitted up of Frivola. This one is for DD#2.

This colorway is for DD#1.
The above ball of yarn looks kind of blah. I saw the sample scarf being knit at the yarn store. It is quite striking!

My favorite pair of jeans "sprang" a hole after being caught on the metal door of our dog crate. I found these cute patches at JoAnn's and now these pants are even more my favorites.

The downside to cute patches on cute jeans?? The girls want me to take them "patch" shopping so we can put patches on their jeans with non-existent holes!

Santa Ornament

This is a little Santa Star Ornament for Christmas. I have long wished to cross stitch ornaments for our tree, but thought that aida cloth would not be stiff enough to withstand years of being placed into and dragged out of the ornament box by my children. This little guy is stitched on plastic canvas and I believe he will be fine.

I used three strands of DMC floss both for the cross stitches and for the outlining. I was unsure if this would be enought, but it appears that it is. The coverage is very nice with no plastic canvas showing through.

A picture of the back. Many, many years ago when our first child was born, I met a woman from Australia and we became great friends. Her mom was an avid cross stitcher and sent my friend lots and lots of items that had been cross stitched for the baby. Some of these were bibs. Her work was so fantastic!! The back looked so neat and perfect. It made me think of the backs of my works and sadly they were lacking. This ornament, while not perfect and no where as neat as my friend's mom's work, is quite an improvement over some of my earlier work.

Santa, all trimmed. The only thing I am not so happy about is the border of plastic canvas that can be seen all the way around the ornament. I tried to whipstitch around the outside with a gold metallic thread, but not only was that thread a bear to work with, it did not cover all those corners - so I ripped it out.

I decided that I wanted a more finished look for the back. This is just felt stitched onto the ornament. It's a nice little ornament.

I am a little monkey

Lately I have been very distracted. I am like a little monkey.....every new little shiny thing that catches my eye I must do. Reading blogs has made this phenomenum so much worse!! I am learning to embroider, signed up for a quilting class, started a new scarf (bought yarn for another scarf with plans to buy yarn for 2 more scarves), went to a needlepoint store and now want to learn that as well - I'm tellin' ya - just like a little monkey!!!

I pulled out my Whirly Gig blanket from the bins and am very much enjoying working on this in little bits and pieces of time. I love this yarn and the way it changes color - I can't believe that I have put it down for so long. This project was started waaaaay back on February 11, 2007!

I love the way these look!

There are 12 hexagons done right now and I only need 33 of them!

Some new fishies. These are now just coming off the needles I know the pattern by heart.

The fish above is possibly my favorite. I love the color so much!

More kites! The one above I ran out of the blue and had to add some other cotton. Looks kind of neat I think.

Another kite with my favorite color of cotton!

This is from the Monthly Dishcloth KAL Yahoo Group. It says "FRIEND" but I couldn't get my camera to get a good picture of it. All these cloths are now winding up in our linen cabinet because the kids love to use them in the bath and the shower. That's really nice for me to see :o)

Having Fun!

So.....I have been looking at a few embroidery blogs lately and have been enjoying them so very much! I decided to teach myself embroidery - shouldn't be too hard, I have been cross stitching for awhile now, right??? I found sharon b's blog Pin Tangle. Every Tuesday she posts a new stitch to try out along with a very detailed tutorial - I thought this would be a great way to enter the world of embroidery slowly, one stitch a week, with plenty of time to practice.
My first attempt was her tutorial of the Diamond Stitch - it was a complete disaster and had to be ripped out. You can see above that I just decided to do a backstitch. I have now started a new square for the buttonhole stitch. I think maybe I need to start easy and then move on to more complicated stitches :o) One can only hope.......

Another kite - all the rest have been given to my son's preschool for "wash cloths" for the babies.

Another fish - these are really fun and fast!

Monthly Discloth KAL for the middle of march.

Peaches and Cream - color: Pink Lemonade

Size US5 needles

A second blanket. This one is much, much smaller than the first. Boy, did I learn my lesson!!! For this one, I cast on 20 stitches and knit 40 rows for each "square", then changed color. Not only much smaller but much quicker to knit. I still really like this pattern and the yarn is so very soft.

Yarn: Lion Brand Yarn - Homespun

98% Acrylic, 2% Polyester

Machine wash and dry (VERY IMPORTANT!!)

Size US 13 needles - 2 strands of yarn together

Color: 322 Baroque (Light Purple)

209 Deco (Cream)

Lots: multiple

Dimensions: 65 3/4" X 67"

Weight: 6 1/2 pounds

A picture of the edging. I am getting slightly better at single crochet around the edge, but need lots more practice to make it better looking. I am, however, very happy with the finished product. This yarn is so soft and the weight is just perfect. I have now started a third blanket with black as the color of choice.