Monday, May 28, 2007

Happy Memorial Day

Welcome to Smoke-lanta!! We woke up yesterday and I thought that we had been transported to LA-Los Angeles, not Lower Alabama. All the smoke from the wildfires in south Georgia and Florida manages to take a journey north with the weather fronts and makes it hard to appreciate the beautiful spring weather we're having (if you don't include the drought). If it's like this where I am, I can only imagine how bad it is for those poor people in the southern area of the state and Florida. I hope that they, and us, can get the much needed rain soon.

Well, hopefully this will be a good day for some knitting, either at the movies or by the pool (it that dang smoke would cease and desist). I have several projects I HAVE to get done. One of course is the aforementioned operation fuzzytoes sock, the second is the "refuses to meet gauge once knitted" Miss Dashwood hat-it's still a really cute hat even though it makes me want to cuss a blue streak. Also, I need to get a Baby Albert sweater done for a friend at work who just had her baby-the said child was born two weeks ago, but heck, it's Atlanta and as long as I make the sweater in the 9-12 months size the said child won't need it until December anyway! (I know when my kiddies were small, there was nothing better than going through the closet to find something to wear for the continually growing child and finding some HUGE sweater, shirt, pants, etc. that someone had given me at a baby shower that I knew my sweet, small delicate baby child would NEVER be able to fit into- and realize it finally fits!!!!)



I guess that the newly purchased, delicious Rowan summer tweed yarn, in a color that exactly matches my green eyes, by the way, will not be able to be knit up for a while into a sweater for me. Does anyone know any KPA (knitter's projects anonymous) groups in my area?

On a more serious note-I hope we all remember the veterans and active troops today. It's because of them that we get to go to the pool, visit the LYS, go to the movies, go to the cookouts (or smokeouts) and all the other myriad daily pleasures that we take for granted in this free country in which we live. If you want to show your support, go to Operation Home Front. There are other sites out there, but I like this one best. There's a lot of knitting that can be done to support our guys and girls overseas!

Have a great Memorial Day.....

















Monday, May 21, 2007

Operation Fuzzy Toes

How do you like the title? Me and my good buddy Melissa are going to knit a pair of socks for a girl at our work who's having a hard time in her personal life lately. And this girl has got the sweetest Christian spirit you could ever hope to have and the best disposition around so she definitely deserves some hand knit socks! We had both been wanting to do something for her. I was thinking prayer shawls and the like, but Melissa thought about knitting a pair of socks for her with each of us knitting a sock. I thought that was a great idea, as socks to me are the ultimate comfort gift. You have to treat hand knit socks with care, they are always the most comfortable of all socks, and are very close and intimate-- just like a good friendship. Besides the fact on a practical note, we won't end up with the dreaded second-sock-syndrome. I think the title of our undertaking is great, too. Don't hand knit socks just give you the warm fuzzies????? We're using some Moda-Dea cartwheel yarn. We both completed our swatches today and we're going to compare tomorrow. I can't wait to get started on this project!

On other notes, my wonderful husband and myself had a great day. We were both off for the day, so we decided to head over to Virginia Highlands and have a great early lunch-we went to a restaurant called Murphy's which is a local legend kind of place whose shrimp salad sandwich is to die for! Also, conveniently, my favorite yarn shop, Knitch, is right around the corner. I know that you're asking yourself, did have a hidden agenda when I suggested eating at Murphy's. YES. Can I help it if my darling husband was all for hopping over to Va. Highlands to eat? That's what I thought!!!!!-and Steve was able to get a new golf glove while we were out, so he benefited from the outing too. I was able to pick up the Debbie Bliss book "Junior Knits ", some new Lantern Moon needles, and the Lantern Moon Basket/bag with the drawstring top. I have been wanting that bag for a long time now, but every time I visited the yarn shop I ended buying so much yarn that I didn't feel like I should by the bag. Today, however, I didn't buy any yarn (no, I'm not high on crack-I just have so much great yarn waiting for me on all my projects I couldn't justify buying any more. However, a knitter can never do without some good Lantern Moons to replace the aluminum ones she has-I do however now regret not buying any yarn if it makes you feel better about me as a knitter), so it was a perfect time to buy the bag. And once I got home, Makenzie and Nick were both able to pick out sweater patterns in the Debbie Bliss book that they liked for me to knit for them this fall. Mak picked out the Cassie pattern and Nick picked out the Woody pattern. Maybe I'll get those done by December? We'll see!
Here's some eye candy for this post. It's the view from our condo in Orange Beach, AL. I took the picture last New Year's eve and it's one of my utmost favorites. Hope you enjoy.
May your knitting be memorable and your contributions great this week!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Miss Dashwood is getting the best of me!!!

Well, I'm making my second Miss Dashwood hat from Knitty and it seems yet again it's going to be too big for the intended recipient ( a 5 month old baby girl cousin with the hat made in the 3-6 mos size). I made the first one from some cheaper yarn I had got at Hobby Lobby just for a run through and hey, if it ended up looking great then it could be the actual hat I would give to said recipient. I even whipped out my hand-dandy WPI tool just to compare the Hobby Lobby yarn with my treasured Debbie Bliss. And yes, before everyone out there asks did I make a gauge swatch, yes I DID!!!! Anyway, because the pattern calls for P4 thru the back and some other such nonsense to make the bobbles I didn't want to use any of my sumptuous Debbie Bliss cashmerino just to mess up. I had never tried bobbles before and SURPRISE! SURPRISE! (can everyone out there hear Gomer Pyle?) the bobbles weren't my trouble... but the ever lovin', for all that's holy freakin' gauge. ( I even rechecked the gauge during the knitting it.) The hat ended up being big enough to fit my 7 year old son. Now, I know most of you are asking how did I get a pink, frilly hat on my super cool, Heely-wearing, total boyish boy? Well, I had to sneak up behind him and pop it on his head, just to make sure that I wasn't delusional in thinking that the thing would fit a wee 5 month old head. I wasn't delusional, sigh. And my Nick-knack will be probably be looking over his shoulder for his crazy, but not delusional, mom for awhile to come.
Anywho, I'm determined to make this hat for said infant. It is the cutest hat!!! But this time I'm using Crystal Palace's Bunny Hop yarn which is a smaller gauge yarn ( I guess I'm saving my Debbie Bliss yarn for all of posterity, when I probably should use it and shazam! the gauge would probably magically come full circle) I'm also using a smaller gauge needle as well. Has anyone out there had good luck with their Miss Dashwood? Let me know.

Well here's some eye candy I took with my favorite Christmas present ever. The DH got me a Canon Powershot S3 IS. I just love this picture. Hope you all enjoy and Happy Thursday!

Sunday, May 13, 2007

A really great Mom's Day

Well, it was a great mother's day. There's nothing like waking up to breakfast in bed served by the hubby and kids. Also, my sweet baby girl went out to the yard and got honeysuckle blooms to spread across the tray that they brought the breakfast in on. That girl is sooo creative! Nick (my little one) was so sweet. Since he's seven, he's at the age where it's getting to be "not cool" to let your mom hug and kiss on you, but he came up at breakfast and gave me a big ol' smack and told me I was the world's coolest mom. You can't get any better than that, can you?

I also got 4 skeins of yarn and a gift card to B&N. You just can't get any gifts better than that unless it's a gift card to your LYS for more yarn.

It was really warm here in Hotlanta on Mother's day, so we trekked on over to my mom's pool for a little swimming and wishing mom a super mother's day. It was really too hot to lay out, but too cold in the water. However, I did got some cute pics of the kids.












I was able to finish my mom's Booga Bag yesterday and felt it just in time for mother's day. I made it in Noro Kureyon's color #183. She really loved it. I've made one for myself too, but I felted the crap out of it and it's wayyyyy tooo small. That's what I get for not being careful like I usually am and checking the felting every so often in the wash. I'll guess I'll have to pass it down to glamour girl (my daughter). It's just her size.
I just started making some socks using Artyarns Ultramerino in a beautiful blue color. I'd been looking (it seems like everywhere) for a good solid color in sock yarn to start the Uptown Boot socks in the Favorite Socks book by Interweave (is it just me or does all sock yarn have to be variegated these days?). Once I found it, I knew that it was the right color. The cables are coming along great and they're fun to make. It's my first time doing any cable work, except for just trying out a cable on a swatch, but there's really nothing too it.... says the knitter of only about a year. We'll see how happy I am when I start turning the heel, making the gussets, etc! Anyway, I guess I better go start dinner-bourbon marinated salmon, yum! We've got the kids choir program tonight at church and it's already been a long day after field day at the school!! Happy knitting everyone.....

I have a Blog!!!!

My blog is here!! After reading all the great knitting blogs out there, I finally broke down and created my own. I guess it's a Mother's Day gift to me.

Please visit and reply often, I can't wait to hear from you. Happy Mother's Day!