My Latest Projects

Well, as fall approaches, it seems as though our schedule gets busier and busier. I love fall and all the holidays that fall within it...but it does get difficult to keep a "normal" schedule.

Here's what I've been finishing up as the summer draws to a close:

Cigar Gloves from Knitty.com
Yarn: Galway Worsted Wool
For: Gift for Josh to take to Alaska for the Boat Captain

Back to School Circular Dishcloth
Pattern: Round Cloth
Yarn: Peaches & Creme Premium - Colorway: Spice
For: GA Cloth Swappers Fall Swap #5

Zack's Blanket...finished!

Hey all. As always, things have been busy and I've neglected the blog. It seems that I'm not truly meant to be a blogger, I guess. Hopefully the following picture helps explain what I've been up to:

Please let me clarify: I did not have a baby...I just made the blanket. Finally finished the "Zack" blanket. Yay! I'll post a better picture later on, but this one is a nice shot of the recipient with the gift.

Later,

B.

Ongoing Project

Once again, I am not nearly devoted enough to the blog. I post haphazardly, at best, and for that I apologize.

My current project is:

Zack's Blanket

Pattern: "How to Log Cabin" from Mason Dixon Knitting

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease colors: Taupe, Maize, Cherry and Seaspray

Started: early June

Deadline: ASAP!

I am working diligently on this little gem for a cousin's upcoming baby. I made a blanket for their first, a little girl named MacKenzie, so I felt like I should make one for baby #2. Since I waited forever to start though, I am now knitting as quickly as possible to get this thing finished.

Aside from knitting, the hubby and I are doing our best to keep cool. We have gone from nice weather to hotter-than-the-hubs-of-hell in about a week. Our daily tempertures are about 98 degrees with a heat index of 100+. (For those in the north, heat index is the exact opposite of wind chill. It adds the humidity factor into the actual temperture so that you can see just how truly hot it feels outside.) All of that being said, we were in the pool as much as possible this weekend.

So, my current dilemma? I need to figure out how to knit in the pool. Water+yarn = a potentially huge mess.

Keep cool!

~ B.

Flying Geese

Hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day Weekend. Ours was great; although, I'm not exactly sure how people came up with the idea that a 3 day weekend means relaxation. I swear, I'm more tired now than I was last week. Oh well. I shouldn't complain.

I did not get a whole lot of knitting done over the long weekend. In fact, for 3 days off, my output was pretty pathetic. The only item I managed to crank out was this:

Pattern: Flying Geese (free Ravelry download)

Yarn: I Love This Cotton

Colorway: High Sierra Ombre

Started: May 23rd

Finished: May 25th

All in all, I liked the pattern and I think it would look really great in a solid color. It seems like the varigated yarn really distracted from the pattern itself; although, it still turned out very pretty. I love the colors in this varigated yarn. And, this was my first time using ILTC. It was very soft and I'm not sure I'd use it for a dish cloth again, but I would definately use it for something.

Oh, and here's a shot of the boys at the lake this weekend.

(It's hard to tell but the hubs is actually fishing in this picture. He caught a catfish but was unable to get it to shore. And I caught a fish too! Mine was a striper. It made it to shore but I promptly made him get it off the line and throw it back.)

Later gators.

Hip to Be Square

Look at me, two days in a row! Can we call this a streak?

So, another new thing in my life is the fact that I've joined a new group of crafters online. I've been a member of Ravelry for a while now and I have joined several groups - but have not been too active with them until recently. About a month ago, I joined a group called "Georgia Cloth Swappers." We are just a small group of gals in Georgia that knit or crochet dishcloths and then do round robin style swaps through the mail. So far I've been a part of one swap and it was super fun. Isn't it funny how, even as you age, you are still always excited to see a package in your mailbox when you get home? It still gets.

We have also started doing mystery knit-a-longs. The one for this week had me making this:

Pattern: Hip to Be Square

Yarn: Peaches & Creme Solids - Army Tan

Started: May 21st

Finished: May 22nd

So, what do you all think? I'm pretty excited to see what comes up next. This is a great way for me to try new patterns without going to the trouble of searching for them myself.

Gotta run! Have a great Memorial Day Weekend.

An Old Dog Learns a New Trick

So sorry that I have been absent for such a long time. I've been doing things like; praying that I am able to keep employment and pay my bills, traveling to PA to pick up the furniture my grandmother gifted to my sister, entertaining the family in from PA to attend said sister's college graduation, and the list goes on. In a nutshell, I've been a little busy. But haven't we all?

So, here's a post to show what's been going on in my crafting life. I'll keep it short and just say that I've found a new love - round dishcloths. I love them. The top two pictures are the "Round Dishcloth" pattern by Amy Carpenter. The bottom one is called the "Windmill Dishcloth" and is from the Sew Funky website.

More later, promise.

What's New with Me?

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. Things have been busy - but not in a good way. I've been busy with worrying and what-not. Work is so slow right now. We had to let 4 guys go in the last few weeks, one of whom had been with the company for 14 years. It was really hard. So, I am still trying to figure out who the current administration can claim that things are improving and in the next breath admit that unemployment as at a record high...and expected to climb. Hmm? Somehow that makes no sense at all to me...call me crazy I guess.

To bring myself out of that work-worry funk, I've been working on some new projects. First of all, I finally finished the Mason Dixon Knitting - Modern Log Cabin Baby Blanket. Here it is:

Finished Size: 30x36 (approx.)

Materials Used: Lion Brand Yarn Cotton-Ease in Lime (2 skein), Lake (2 skeins), Almond (2 skeins) and Taupe (1 skein).

Modifications: I only did 8 of the 10 squares in the pattern. I felt that the blanket was large enough so I stopped after the first 8 squares. I also changed the border a bit and picked up stitches with the right side facing instead of the wrong side as suggested.

I love how this turned out. The cotton yarn feels great to knit with and to cover up with. I'm seriously considering making a huge one of these for my bed. It may be a challenge considering I have a king sized bed. The patter is also nothing but garter stitch so it would likely take me 5 lifetimes to get it finished.

Another little gem I finished this week was the nine patch dishrag I was making out of little cotton scraps. I have to say, I am posting this solely because I find beauty in making something so ugly. Thank God it's only purpose is clean dishes.

That's it for now. I'm currently working on a cute new baby hat. Boy colors again! I don't know what is going on...I must be feeling a wave of little boys coming on.

~ B.