Old WIP

I had not one single kid in the church nursery today so basically I was paid to sit and knit for 3 hours. Not bad, eh? I worked on my Reverse Bloom Flower Washcloth for a while. The more I do the more I like it. Then after a while I worked on my new project. (see below)

New WIP

Nothing like starting a new project to perk up your spirits. I started this Knit Circle Throw after seeing Lauren's. It will be a Christmas present for my parents. I thought I'd better start now to make sure it would be done in time.....but it seems to be a pretty fast knit....I just started last night. It takes a dozen skeins of Lion Brand Homespun, unfortunately I had none in my stash, so between JoAnn's last night and Michael's today, I was able to find all the colors I needed. I think it's so pretty! (the little hole in the middle will be sewn up) I used DPN's for the first time, and although I had to start over numerous times (okay....10 times!) I finally got the hang of it.

We ran away to join the circus

We went to the Ringling Brothers/Barnum and Bailey Circus today at the Arrowhead Pond. I had not been to a circus since I was a kid, and this was the first time for Noey. It was so much fun. Noey loved it!

I decided to try to knit in the car on the way since we had an hour drive. I've never done that before since I am usually the driver. I don't know if today was just a bad day, but I kinda got carsick. Maybe because I was sitting in the backseat? I was working on the purse, but I'm really not happy with it. I think it's my color choice, so I think I will rip it out and start over with different colors. I have not actually knit anything seriously for a couple of days.

Another beautiful park day

Debbie is back from Switzerland and I finally got to give her the OSW I knit for her birthday. We went to the park with Hannah and Ava, and their mom. I worked on another purse.....not sure if I like it or not. I'm having trouble with my knitting projects lately....nothing is thrilling me.

I finally heard from my niece, Megan, in Florida. She got her OSW, it fits, she likes it, and she's worn it a couple of times already.

I used Cotton Ease in Candy Blue from my stash for both Megans' and Debbies'. I'm getting pretty proficient at OSW's, but I think I've done enough now!

Is this cute, or what?

While Noey was at the movies with Grandma & Grandpa, I finished up this little scarf. It's the Potato Chip scarf from the KnitPicks catalog. It's so cute!! It looks similiar to Ruffles from Scarf Style. It was a pretty fast and easy knit, although by the end you have over 700 stitches to knit and then bind off.

I used about 1/2 skein of Lion Brand Wool Ease from my stash. I think if I made it again I would use a yarn with a little more pizzaz and I'd make it a little longer.

Hi Ho Hi Ho it's off to the frog pond I go

My Relaxed Pullover was humming along, I was really happy with it, the decreases went well, I liked how the raglan armhole shaping was going.....but then something horrible happened. I don't even know what happened but I somehow screwed up the neckline. I tried to talk myself into making that the back (out of sight out of mind) but I can't live with it. I guess the only thing to do is frog the whole darn thing and start over again. I threw it in the bottom of my knitting basket and I'll deal with it another day.

In the meantime I needed a quick knit to regain my confidence.....

....... so I knit up another One Skein Wonder for Noey.

Noey picked out the yarn. It's Red Heart something or other, I really like the colors although the yarn is a little rough. Noey wants to wear it on Wednesday when we go back to my old school to start the Knitting Club. (Noey thinks she's going to help me teach the kids to knit!)

We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave

Now, I know that other parts of the country deal with this kind of heat and humidity all summer long, but we're just not used to it here. It's sweltering! Thank goodness for A/C!! It's been on all day today and yesterday.

I've been chugging along on my Relaxed Pullover. I'm still on the back, but up to the armhole shaping. It's going much faster this time, which tells me my knitting skills are improving. My circular needle order arrived today, so I'm going to attempt socks, maybe this evening. I have some Wool Ease in my stash to practice with......I can't wait to use the Lana Grossa sock yarn my Secret Pal sent me!

Never ask a 5 year old for knitting advice

I showed my Reverse Bloom Flower washcloth to Noey and asked her if it looked like a flower petal. Her response was "No". Not even a little bit? "No" Should I rip it out and start over? "Yes" This is my fourth attempt and I think this is the one. I'm thinking that after 4 attempts I'm not going like it any better!

I resurrected by Relaxed Pullover after I saw Lauren's Rhapsody in Blue. I had about 16 inches done, but had lost track of where I was and didn't really like how it was turning out so I frogged the whole darn thing and started over on bamboo needles and I'm liking it better now. Lauren's turned out so nice....I'm excited to finish mine! Maybe I should call mine Rhapsody in Red!!

A little stash busting

My Brown Sheep stash. Thinking about doing a Buttonhole bag.

Thinking about either the pink or the yellow for this Ridged Eyelet Shapely Shawl.

I found this cute sweater by Oat Couture to use up my LB Wool Ease Chunky. I am really into green lately.

Well the only knitting news this weekend is I started my Sophie bag. I have been afraid of using DPN's and of making an I-cord, but I threw caution to the wind and started it anyway! I was merrily knitting along when I realized I had forgotten to do the decreases 8 rows back! So this morning while I was working in the church nursery (no kids at first service) I ripped it back and all is well again. It looks awfully small to me, though. I know it's going to be even smaller after felting so I don't know if I will be happy with it. You'll notice the color of the yarn is exactly as pictured in the pattern! I read somewhere that 80% of us knitters choose exactly what is pictured.....Hello! That would be me....a sheep following the masses! (although I used to think of myself as a trendsetter!)

It's funny.....even though I was looking forward to some well deserved time alone Friday night, I missed that little girl and was actually happy to have her home!

My Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille stash. I got them yesterday. I ordered through ebay and got a pretty good price. I've already started the Reverse Bloom Flower Washcloth 3 times and ripped it out. I just can't get the petals to form nicely. You can blame this all on my new knitting blogger friend Shar. I saw how cute her washcloth was and decided to try it myself.

The Lizard Wizard comes to town

That would be my sweet little angel child right in the middle (the cute one with pink pants and green & white shirt) enthusiastically holding a SNAKE!

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood

This not working thing is kinda nice. Though the not having any money thing kinda sucks! (although you may have noticed the lack of money has not prohibited the purchasing of yarn!)

Not a lot of knitting news to report yet....but there may be some later. I am ALONE, completely ALONE! For the entire night! I think this may be my first night alone in over 5 years!!! DH is at a conference in Ontario (California, not Canada) and Noey talked her way into a sleep over at Grandma & Grandpa's house! This was a last minute thing so I really don't have anything planned but to organize the knitting and then knit!! So I may have a ton of knitting news to report tomorrow!

8:14pm NEWS FLASH The sleep over is over! It lasted exactly 2 hours! I had just organized all my knitting supplies, and was contemplating what project to start when my mom called and said Noey wanted to come home! I knew it was too good to be true.

I love my Secret Pal!

She is so thoughtful! I got this package when I got home. Lana Grossa sock yarn and a cute little pack of tissues! I LOVE the colors of this yarn.....they are so me....pink and green!! I can't wait to work up a pair of cute socks! Thank you Secret Pal!!

I picked up my package from Jimmy Beans Wool this morning at the post office. Then this afternoon while at my parents house, our Amazon order arrived. Woo Hoo! Two new books to play with!

If it's Thursday.....

it must be park day! We spent another 4 hours at the park today. It was a new park and it was jam packed with kids on a field trip so I wasn't able to just sit and knit as much as I wanted. I was able to make good progress on my 5th One Skein Wonder. Should be done by tonight and I will mail it out to my niece, Megan, tomorrow. I finished the dishcloths last night so the pressure of deadline knitting is off. I've been wanting to start some new projects, but had to finish others first.

I ventured into the only LYS in my area on Tuesday and surprisingly found what I was looking for. I had only been in there one other time (I get most of my supplies online) when I had just started knitting and was intimidated. This time I marched right in, told them what I wanted, and got it!! :) One of my purchases was Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille to make the Reverse Bloom Flower Washcloths from Weekend Knitting. I have big plans to make sets of them as Christmas presents along with handmade soap. We'll see if I can accomplish that!!

I made a set for each of Noey's teachers as end of summer gifts.

Enjoying Life

Noey and I ventured into the wilds of Los Angeles yesterday to go to the Museum of Natural History. I was a little nervous about driving into LA by ourselves, but it turned out to be fast and easy. The museum was fantastic! I had not been there in at least 20 years and Noey had never been. The animal exhibits were just the same, but now there is a whole dinosaur exhibit.....Noey's favorite! It was such a nice day!

I started Megan's OSW with Cotton Ease in Candy Blue yesterday, but had to put it down to finish a dishcloth in a hurry. I just found out that my uncle and his new wife will be arriving tomorrow from Montana. They have a new house, so I figured a couple of hand knit dishcloths would be a nice housewarming gift.

I'm a little disappointed in our new Walmart. We have not had a Walmart near us so occasionally we would drive out to Cerritos, but it was really inconvenient. Finally they built one relatively close to us. Noey and I went there this morning. I mainly went there for some Lily Sugar & Cream cotton for the aforementioned dishcloth. Their yarn selection is pathetic....all Red Heart and Bernat, only a skein or two of Lion Brand, and absolutely no Sugar & Cream. So I was forced to stop at JoAnn's on the way home. Well, I was only going in for the Sugar & Cream and was going to use the cash in my wallet, when I spotted.......my beloved Cotton Ease......in Sugar Plum.....the one color I didn't get.....so guess what? I bought it!!! I guess now my CE collection is complete! (although I did read that another blogger had 163 skeins in stash!!)

I ordered "Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles" from Amazon last night. My mom wanted a quilting book, but didn't want to pay shipping so I offered to help her out. Aren't I nice? So I'm hoping I'll be able to actually make a pair of socks finally!

Don't know who or what this is, but Noey enjoyed posing with him.....uhhh...her?

I'm so angry

My faith teaches me to not hate anyone, to love and forgive my enemies, but I'm having a difficult time doing that with terrorists! I just don't understand WHY? It all seems so senseless.

The people of London will be in our prayers.

Four Hours at the Park

and this is all I have to show for it! My first day as a Stay At Home Mom. We went to the park with our friends Curtis and Jacob, and their moms. We really did stay for 4 hours! I finished only about 3 repeats on my latest dishcloth....I just couldn't talk to the moms and count stitches at the same time. But I had a great time relaxing on my blanket and watching my beautiful child play.

It was a long, tough day

Today was my last day at school. It was really hard. The kids kept asking me not to leave! :( Broke my heart. I know I made the right decision in quitting and staying home with Noey for the summer, but I so loved my kids at school.

But......it made me feel good to know I was loved! They surprised me with a cake, and all the other teachers gave me some very nice gifts. I got lots of hugs and well wishes, and the kids made me a book that they all wrote in. The most touching one was written by a boy that I had such a hard time with last year, he wrote in it that I was his favorite teacher!

In knitting news - I have been working on Christmas presents!! I am making the cutest dishclothes in red and green with hearts. Very cute!

All the gifts.....including a JoAnn gift card!

My kids!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Happy Fourth of July!

The Great Cotton Ease Stash

Here it is.....shhhhhhhh! I got it out to send a picture to my niece so she could pick out the color for her OSW. (of course DH was not home at the time) While we had it out Noey wanted to "help" me count it all......so now she knows. Now it's just a waiting game......waiting for Noey to blurt out "Mommy has 42 skeins of yarn in her closet"!

I finished Debbie's OSW last night at 9:30pm.......too late to get it over to her, and they left at 4:00am this morning for Switzerland. Sorry Deb!! My 18 year old hip and stylish niece, Megan, wants an OSW so I guess I'll be starting a fifth one! I've learned something on each one, like it makes a difference which side you bind off from, and how to pick up stitches correctly.

My beautiful child

The official graduation picture!

I'm in love.....

with the One Skein Wonder!! and Cotton Ease as well! I have completed the Blueberry Cotton Ease OSW for myself, which turned out really cute, and started Debbie's last night. Her birthday was last Sunday......oh well!

I went to the other Tuesday Morning store on our street last week and found a treasure trove of Cotton Ease!! Every color......I could not resist! So I now have *gasp* 42 skeins of CE!! Is that obsessive or what??? I did leave a few packs in the store, but seriously thought about going back for the one color I didn't get!! Anyway, I got enough of each color to make sweaters, OSW's, hats, etc.......whatever I want. I did sneak it up to the house while Joe was at work and hid it in my closet......42 skeins is hard to hide!!

Well, after I told Sarah at work about my Tuesday Morning find, she oh so casually told me there is another Tuesday Morning store about 10 miles from me......SOMEBODY STOP ME!!

Noey is modeling the wool OSW.

The back view.