Finished Projects

Today is a day of finishing things.  Sue's Dragon Wings Shawl and a washcloth for Alfred are done.  I just did the finishing on them a few minutes ago.  Now I'll finish the other bib and start another washcloth for Alfred.  :) 

Next up are bibs and washcloths for the Melara twins.  Those need to be done before we leave on the Kansas trip.  Speaking of the trip... I'm not sure how much knitting is going to get done on the trip.  I doubt I'll be able to bring much yarn.  We only have so much room in the car.  Unfortunately, yarn is only a life sustaining priority to me and I am not the head of this household.  (In all fairness... The Husband isn't bringing his Xbox 360.  Fair is fair.)

I have to admit that I did a stupid thing today.  There could have been more finished things tonight if I had been using my brain today.  We went to the zoo in Syracuse this afternoon on a last minute whim.  And since it takes approximately 1.5 hours to get to said zoo... you'd think I would have thought to bring a project, right?  Ummmm... no. 

Stu... pid...  The drive was long and boring.  Especially since, once again, Google Maps screwed us and we got lost.  Then we got lost on the way home too.  So. much. knitting. could have been accomplished.  Oh well... I would have knit on the way, but probably not coming home.  I was tired, hot and hungry.  It was a lot warmer at the zoo than we thought it was going to be.  We weren't dressed too badly, but I would have rather Gabriel been wearing shorts. 

Anywho... I did get some things accomplished today in the knitting department.  Have a great remainder of your weekend!

So tired and unmovtivated its crazy!

I haven't been knitting.  I'm sorry.  I did knit yesterday during naptime, but not last night.  The last few days I have been tired and extremely unmotivated.  Not sure why.  And I don't mean that I've just been feeling lazy.  I actually fell asleep on the couch last night.... at 7 p.m. 

Yesterday, I started one of the washcloths for Alfred.  I didn't feel like doing I-cord.  I have to be in the mood for I-cord.  It hurts my fingers.  Sue's shawl only needs about 3 more rows, so maybe I'll do it today during naptime and get it ready to go.  We leave in just a few weeks, so I need to start making lists of what we need to take with us.  :(  I hate that part.  The packing and hoping we have everything.  I love the visiting part.  I just wish I could beam in and out to avoid the actual travelling part. 

Anywho... that's where we are on the knitting.  Have a great weekend everyone!

We have a line jumper!

Well, that list of babies and their due dates just changed drastically.  Alfred Aron Betts was born this week.  6 weeks ahead of schedule!  So he jumped the line a bit.  Luckily, I had been working on the dinosaur & steggie bibs anyway.  Dinosaur is done and steggie is almost done.  I'm just finishing the I-cord.  So once that's done, I can crank out the washcloths in 2 episodes of Lost.  ;)

A Butterfly Washcloth

After shopping with Wendy on Friday for Ali & Amy's baby shower gifts, I really wanted to make Ali a Butterfly bib and wash cloth.  The bedding that she registered for had butterflies on it and was an adorable purple color.  So yesterday, I looked for a butterfly washcloth.  Not very hard, though.  I just looked 2 places.  Then I decided to do it myself. 

It took most of the day, but here is what we got.  I think it turned out pretty well!  This first picture is the charted picture.  This was the hard part!  (It would help if I could find knitting graph paper with larger squares!  My old eyes were getting tired very quickly!)

Then there was a test knit with no borders or anything.  Not sure if you can see the pattern very well.  I used some leftover white cotton. 

After a couple of adjustments, here is the finished Butterfly Washcloth!  :)  It is a nice soft green and ready to be put in Ali's gift bag.  O.k.... I'll weave in the ends if you insist!  ;)

Now, I am NOT artistically talented.  I think I can do basic drawings, though, as long as they don't have to be complicated.  (Stop laughing, Kira!)  However, I think this butterfly turned out very nice!  I'm pretty proud of it and will definitely keep the test piece.  This one is going to Ali, though, as I have too  many to turn out to hold one back.  ;)

I'm thinking tulip and basic flower next.  What do you think?

Holy Bibs, Batman!

The current count of babies needing bibs by the end of July... 5.  2 bibs and 2 washcloths each makes 20... TWENTY! knitted things for babies coming up.  Here is the run down:

Amy Betts: Boy due June 1st or 2nd?  (My cousin is due 1 of those days, but her bibs, etc. are done & mailed to her.)
Flores: Boy due mid-July.  (Soldiers don't have first names, I've learned.)
Melara: Twins, sex unknown due in August, but shower is May 15th. (Another soldier, but I know their names.  Michele & Kelvin are the proud parents-to-be.)
Ali Brown: Girl due mid-July

So while I am working on Sue's Dragon Wings Shawl every night after Boy's bedtime, Naptime is now dedicated to baby bibs & washcloths. 

In other news... Michael's has now closed their yarn section.  I almost cried!  They are moving to a larger store in a better location and the moving process has begun.  They claim they will re-open at the end of the month.  I may not be able to wait that long!  :(  As this is the only decent source of yarn within a hour of here... I am lost.  2 whole weeks?  Really?  I guess I will have to make due with the 2 closets full of yarn that I have now... *sigh*

Also in other news... I have decided to try to design my own bib pattern.  Ali seems to like butterflies according to her Target gift registry.  So I'm going to give it a try.  I'll take the basic down coverlaine pattern for bibs and see if I can put a big butterfly in the middle instead of a dinosaur or something.  We'll see what happens.  If it works out... well... let's just see what happens, shall we?

A yarn giveaway! Woo hoo!

Not from me... sorry...

Erin Wallace is giving away yarn!  Click on her name to find out out to enter her giveaway!  I'm entered already!  While you are there, check out her free patterns and her Etsy shop!  She's very talented!  :)

Something for me

I have finally decided to make something for myself.  I'm going to make something for me to wear!  Yay!  See... a while back, I bought a dress for $20 at DressBarn.  Its really nice, but its sleeveless.  I am not so much a fan of sleeveless things.  I have fat arms.  Nuff said.

Here is the dress. 

Not sure if you can tell, but its a nice chocolate brown with cream stripes.  I really like the dress.  However, being uncomfortable showing my arms... well... I haven't worn it. 

On my new favorite website, though... I found this:  A Shrug to wear over it!  AND I have cream colored yarn in the right weight and amount!  Awesome!  So this Shrug has been added to the project queue.  Not sure when I'll get to it, though.  Not before Mother's Day.  Maybe I'll wear it on a date with Jerry before he leaves.  :) 

**Note** I just noticed that the yarn I have to make the shrug and Abbie's Cardigan to the right are the same color.  So that will be the color of the little sweater I make to go over my dress!  :) 

I love purse size projects!

Some people like to carry those little dogs in their huge purses... I carry knitting.  LOL  I've had a lot of doctor appointments this week and so having a small project in my purse to work on has been a huge blessing!  

I had started the Dinosaur Bib so that I could teach Sandy to make I-cord on Wednesday.  I got it all worked up to the point of needing to do the I-cord on one side last Tuesday.  Then on Wednesday, I taught "I-cord class" and put it back in my purse!  I left it there. 

This worked out great!  I pulled it out in my dentist's office on Thursday.  Then on Friday, I pulled it out in the oral surgeon's waiting room.  Awesome!  I'm a worrier, so having a project in my purse has been the best thing for me this week.  I think from now on... there will be a smallish project in my purse in case of emergency (i.e. downtime w/o the Boy!).  LOL

O.k. so here's deal with all of the dentist appointments....  Ya....  That wasn't a part of my old wisdom tooth that came out.  That was part of my jaw bone.  Neat!  So they have to go in and pull other parts of bone that may be infected out and clean it up.  Then they will sew the gum shut over the jaw bone to make sure it heals properly. 

The nice thing is that I don't have to be put completely out for this.  The bad thing is that maybe I'll want to be?  Kidding...  The whole thing will take a 1/2 hour and then I'll just be sore for a couple of days.  I'm hoping this is the end of the health problems.  That would be nice... *sigh. 

In other news... all indications point toward Jerry's leave getting approved.  So we will be heading out May 11th!  I'm excited!  I want to see my parents' house so badly!  Plus, we will see Tarissa graduate and spend some time with her before she heads out to the Air Force.  Then we get to spend some time in Indy with family and friends.  That will be nice.  I'm ready to be home for a little while.

Dragon Wings Pics

Here are pictures of the Dragon Wings Shawl.  This is a close up shot of the pattern. 

And this is how far along I am.  :)

Its coming along pretty well!  :) 

Dragon Wings, Take 3

The good news is that I finally figured out what I was doing wrong on the Dragon Wings pattern.  The bad news is that I had to frog it and start over... AGAIN!  However, now things are moving along just fine and I have even made it past the first section of the pattern!  Yay! 

Today, we're making Easter cookies.  I think Katie is coming over with her boys, so that should be fun.  And messy!  Then there will be knitting and window washing.  Possibly some time getting out the patio furniture since its supposed to be 77 today!  Yay!  I can knit after the Boy goes to bed.  I really want to get ready for summer!  I'm thinking I can knit while he plays outside if I set things up right.  :)

Frogging Again

This time I made a mistake.  I was so concentrated on figuring out how to do the chart, that I didn't read the instructions correctly.  There are 2 charts for Dragon Wing and you alternate charts by section.  The sections are set apart by stitch markers.  Well, I worked Chart A in both of the chart sections and I was supposed to work Chart B in the 2nd chart section.  Oh, well... live and learn, right? 

I realized this problem when I didn't understand the instructions. I got the whole first section done, but then I was really, really confused.  I even considered finding another pattern.  However, I read through the instructions again... figured out that I screwed up... and frogged the whole thing to start over.  At least I was only at Row 25ish. 

So today during naptime, I will get back to where I was last night and move on.  :)