Monday, May 28, 2007

I would like to say thank you to all of the service-men and -women who have served, and are currently serving, our country.
Happy Memorial Day.


We had a BBQ at the in-law's house yesterday, which gave me lots of time to finish the Yarntini Socks.

I must extend a HUGE thank you to Heather for gifting this lovely yarn to me for Christmas. It was fun to knit with and I love the colors. And, I actually got the stripes to match up with this pair. I'm really happy with these socks. They are my new favorites!

Well, that's all for now. We have another BBQ today, this time at my DOD's (Dear Old Dad's) house, so I should have quite a bit of knitting time to work on yet another baby gift (don't drink the water in St. Louis County... there must be something in it...)

Have a safe holiday!



Wednesday, May 23, 2007

There's been a lot of crafting going on in these parts.

I started and finished a pair of baby socks for LilMan's very pregnant preschool teacher. It was a bit of a last minute knit. I finished them just a few minutes before I left for her baby shower at the school, so of course I forgot to take pictures. They were cute but simple. White socks with one rown of lavender yarn just under the ribbing.

The exciting thing about these socks was that they were my first pair to knit entirely without a pattern. It took a little knitting math and a couple of false starts, but I finished them without ever looking at directions or a pattern. Yay! I feel so liberated!

And in other crafts, I made this:

What is this, you ask? Well, it's a tool of organization. You may be wondering about the top level of this thing, but that will become clear in a moment. I enjoy being organized (though you can't always tell by looking at my house/car/office). It took a couple of weeks, but I designed and constructed this organizer from plastic canvas and incredibly cheap yarn. I should mention that while the overall design and motif were mine, LilMan was a big help by choosing the fabulous yarn colors.

I made it to turn this:

into this:
What can I say? I'm a sucker for a clean(ish) car and that simply wasn't happening with all of LilMan's tapes, books and Missouri Conservation magazines sliding to and fro in the back seat. Oh, and the top part? It's a "safety seat" for Roscoe the beloved stuffed dog. LilMan insists that he be securely buckled in before departing on any car ride. LilMan can work this buckle all by himself, making him more responsible for his own things.

Well, that's about it for now. I turned the heel and have one more gusset decrease on the Yarntini sock #2. I'm excited to have these almost completed! Have a great rest-of-the-week!


Wednesday, May 16, 2007

It's been a while...

It's been a while since my last post...
But you shouldn't take that to mean that I haven't been knitting... I've just been busy. And, I'm a slow knitter with multiple projects going right now. It's frustrating, but life has intervened and is not allowing me to stick to one project at a time lately. No FO's today, but I will have a couple in the next week or so.
Again this year I made the trek to Maryland for Sheep & Wool. I stayed with my sis, Heather and had a wonderful time. Unfortunately, I left my camera sitting on my kitchen table as I rushed out the door to catch my plane. So, I have no photos from the weekend itself. BUT, I have a few photos that I took when I came home.
I was really happy with the restraint I demonstrated in terms of purchases. I bought only one skein of yarn.

Ain't it pretty? It's for a small project that I will write about later...

I also bought these:

Now, you may be asking yourself what exactly I am referring to, because this appears to be a picture of the same sock I've been struggling with for weeks. (Things are not always what they appear... this is actually sock numero two.) But what I actually wanted to show you are the needles this sock is knitted on. See? Two circs. I finally found these after combing S&W and then Heather showed me how to use them for socks. Sock #1 practically flew off the needles after I switched to these babies. Cool.

I also bought a T-shirt and a small messenger bag with this year's logo:

(The shirt was in the laundry, but it's cute!)

I would have liked to get a little more yarn or a fun new tape measure, but something else ate up a bunch of my fiber budget...


Heather and I got our first tattoos together. It was great fun! Go here to see her's. Mine is the Manus Dei (which means "Hand of God"). No, it is not upside down. That's the way it is supposed to look. I will admit that about ten seconds after Raya (our tattoo artist) started I had a mini Oh-Shit moment, but I quickly recovered and am absolutely loving the result!

Well, I suppose that's all I have for today. I want to share a little about how I spent Mother's Day, but that will have to wait for another day.

Happy Knitting!