April's Mid month KAL

When I left for Seattle the April mid month KAL was just starting so I decided to wait until I got back to get started. I chose Sugar and Cream's new Tweed color way. Its hard to see but the colors are peach, white and tan. I have to say this one was a bit more challenging then we usually do but after I got the hand of it was fun to do. I have been having so much fun doing these dishcloths I can't wait until the next one. Enjoy!

Seattle trip socks

While I was on my trip with the kids to Seattle I wanted to take a knitting projects that would be easy and very portable. SOCKS are perfect for that. So I took some bamboo sock yarn that I got last month from my Secret Knitting Pal . I was able to knit one whole sock while on the bus on the first day of the trip. I worked on the second sock while we toured the city and also at any time I had to wait for something or someone. I didn't quite get the second sock done before I got home but there wasn't much left to do. I used size 2 needles and they were great to work on. One thing however, the socks are a bit to big for me so I have given them to my daughter who went on the trip too.

Seattle

So we took a trip to Seattle. My husband and I along with 216 teenagers. Let me explain. Our oldest daughter is in band, as you may already know, her band, all the choirs and the orchestra went to Seattle to compete in what's called a heritage festival. We left at 9:30 AM on Thursday and drove the 10 hours to Seattle, arriving at 7 PM. We stopped several times so that the drivers could have a smoke break. Yea! When we got to Seattle we stopped at a mall and then on to our motel rooms. On Friday we meaning the band kids and chaperons were able to see the city. And see the city we did. We started at the space needle then on to Pikes Place. On Saturday the kids competed and then we were off to Pikes Place again. Now the really funny thing or I guess you could say sad thing was my husband and I ran in to the same flasher on two different days in tow different places in Seattle. We saw a drug deal, and were just about in the middle of a gang fight. So needless to say is We didn't really like the city much. A little to big for us small town folks.
We were able to see some fun stuff. Safeco field for one. The boys weren't in town to play while we were there but it still was neat to see the stadium. Pikes place was fun and we did pick up some neat things there.
The really neat thing was all the kids won first place in every class that they competed in. So they were very excited on the bus ride home. Which we started on 12 midnight. But before we left Seattle we took a fairy to Blake Island had a great salmon dinner. All in all it was a great trip and we all had lots of fun, but I am glad to be back home.

The spinners shawl

I have been busy with my knitting again. I started this shawl last Saturday in one of my knitting classes that I teach each Saturdays. I have been wanting to make this shawl for a while and I thought I would just have to spin the yarn to make it. The yarn is hand spun wool at about 12 wpi or a DK weight. One thing that I did learn while knitting this shawl was when knitting a garder stitch lace pattern keep in mind that when you block the project out it will grow. I added a pattern repeat so that it would be a bit longer, well it blocked out quite a bit longer. The pattern says it supposed to be 32 inches long well mine is 43 inches long. Which in the end is fine but I'm glad I only added on repeat instead of two as I was thinking of doing.

Also I had to be flexible with the beads. I has some really neat dark blue beads that I had in mind for this shawl but when I got to the point of adding the beads I found them to be to small. So I went to several different craft and bead stores to find something that would work. The pattern called for me to knit a stitch and then place the stitch back on the left needle and then take a crochet hook through the bead and pull up the loop through the bead whole, then place the stitch back on the right side needle and continue on. Its hard to see but there are three beads at every point. After looking all over the place I was able to find some nice teal green glass beads at all places Walmart. Go figure. All in all it was fun to do from the start of the spinning to the final cast off and blocking. I think it will work really well as a nice everyday shawl to wear with jeans or to wear with something more dressed up.

What's next?

With all this all my UFO's complete its time to start to think of what's coming next, and low and behold what comes in the mail! My March fiber of the month. For some reason this month's offering was late in its arrival. But boy oh boy was it worth the wait. This is 4 ounces of superwash merino in the colorway called Dandy Lion. I think I will spin this for socks for sure. Oh so many things to do and so little time to get them done.

Spinning UFO

Now that I have finished up all my knitting projects I decided to finish up a spinning project too. I have been wanting to do a spin-knit-a-long. And what would be a better project than the Spinner's shawl from Fiber Trends. Well I have now done all the spinning and am ready to start on the knitting. I bought this roving years ago and it was supposed to be merino but I know its not. Not soft enough. But it still is beautiful. I have about 700 yards or so with a WPI of 12. I am planning to add dark blue beads to the outer border. I think it will really set it off.

UFO number 2

With the event of Easter coming I really wanted to finish this shawl so that I could wear it. So with lots and lots of knitting and some frozen pizza for dinner, I was able to finish with a day to spare. The pattern comes from Fiber Trends and its called the landscape shawl. I have made maybe 7 or 8 of these over the years and this one is going to be mine! I used Berroco Ultra Alpaca in a navy blue heather. I can wait to try it out this Sunday at church.

Completed UFO

For the past couple of weeks I have been working on finishing up some projects that I had been working on. The first of these projects is a neat sweater totally done in garder stitch. As you can see in the pictures I used a variegated wool/mohair blend from Alchemy called Lonestar. The neat thing about this sweater is that there is minimal sewing. After completing the front and back I sewed the shoulder seems and then picked up for each of the sleeves. After they are complete I then sewed up the arm and side seems. Its kind of hard to see but there is not collar. Its a simple round neck that is done by picking up stitches and binding off others. The pattern comes from a new book that I just love called "The Natural Knitter"