oooooo... Pretty!!!

So I was in Doylestown on the weekend and decided to stop at a yarn store that I haven't been in for a long time.  Forever Yarn is a little shop with some of the nicest yarns!! I had to park in municipal parking, luckily I have a Jeep and was able to park on a mound of snow.

I found some perfect Manos del Urugua Maxima in a purple, pink brown colourway.  This morning while looking thru patterns, I found a cute little jacket in the current Vogue.  I have to tweak it a bit for it to be what I want.  But I think it'll turn out cute.

Also got some sock yarn.  Nothing really amazing there.  BUT she had a bit of the Madelinetosh sock and dk yarn.  So I HAD to get one skein, a bright yellow-green.  It'll be perfect of winter blah socks!!

The baby blanket was well received at the baby shower yesterday.  So glad I re-did it.

Heater is not working, and they have no one available to come out tonite.  So I guess it'll be all of the furries on the bed with us tonite!!

The On-Going Traveling Sweater Saga

Ok - so I found the pattern back over the fall and decided I needed the pattern. The Traveling Sweater just looked soo cool.  But being the type to never use the yarn called for, I decided to substitute.  Plus I couldn't get a good idea of the colours of the Woobu yarn called for.  I decided to make it for my sister for Christmas, I had her pick the colour she wanted.  Went on a trip to Webs and got some Ella Rae in a eggplant purple.  (Doesn't hurt that my name is Rae ..... HAHAHAHA!)

It is now January and I am still working on this sweater.  The Ella Rae works up a tad bit larger than the Woobu, so rather than making the large size, I'm knitting to the smaller size, but getting the proportions of the larger size.  The biggest problem I have is that there is no real schematic for the sweater, so I'm mostly hoping that it'll work out correctly.  I'm reasonably confident that it'll work out correctly.

Right now my biggest problem is pain.  I have to knit a heavy DK weight on size 3 needles.  And knit tightly.  After 2 or 3 rows, I have to stop and let my hands rest.  So progress is slow.

Stay tuned.  I'll post picks later.

Baby Blanket DONE!!!

Yippies!!!  This is the baby blanket I made for my sister's daughter-in-law.  The baby shower is next weekend, I hope she likes it!!  Its very simple, just white, with a grey and pink ribbon woven thru the eyelet border.  The directions below would work for any yarn, any crochet hook size.   Adjust for size as desired.

Directions--

Chain 62 stitches.
Row 1 - 1 sc and 2 dc in second chain from hook.  * Skip next 2 chain stitches, sc, 2dc in next chain*.   After last combination, skip 2 chains, sc in last chain.
Row 2 - 2 dc in sc from last row.  In the sc from below row, * sc, 2dc * across.  At the end, sc in last chain.

Repeat row 2 until desired length.

Begin eyelet row, you will work all the way around the blanket now.

Round 1 - Chain 1, sc in each sc across to end of row.  3 sc in corner.  Join with slip stitch to first sc.
Round 2 - Chain 4 (counts and dc and chain 1) Skip 1 sc, in next sc, dc, chain 1.  Continue in this manner around blanket.  At corner, dc chain 1 in middle stitch. Join slip stitch to third chain of chain 4.
Round 3 - Skip 1 sc, 5 dc in next sc. Continue around entire blanket.
Round 4 - chain 6, skip first sc, 5 dc in sc space from below.

I wove 2 0.25 inch ribbons thru the eyelet row.  I threaded the ribbon thru every 2 dc legs

All totaled, I started this blanket on Thursday night and wove in the ends Saturday evening.  Probably took no more than 10 hours to complete.  I may make one or two more to keep on hand.

Baby Blanket Re-Do

Ever make  a project.  Design it.  Knit it.  Look at it and go ... ugh?  I made a blanket for my sister's set-daughter.  I washed it to get the cat and dog hair out of it.  Some of the joins came unspliced, so I set about fixing them.  Blocked it and looked at it.  YUCK.

I knit in white yarn.  A basic knit not frills.  An eyelet border to run a ribbon thru.  I just did not like to looks of it.  I looked at it for several days ... Wednesday I took it apart and re-did it.  This time I crocheted.  I am soooooo much happier with it.  I just made it up as I went.  I'll tke a pic and post it tomorrow.

OH _ and if you get a cold and need to buy cold medicine - DONT DO IT!!  I practically had to consent to a body cavity search at WalMart just to get some cold tablets.  They added me to a database, checked my driver's license, and I had to sign a consent form.  When I asked what I was signing - the clerk told me it was a consent form.  I said I would nit sign unless I could read what I was signing for.  Her own fault really, when the verbiage came up, she clicked on "ACCEPT" and told me to sign.  So she had to void the sale and ring it up again. Sorry but I dont sing anything before I understand WHAT I am signing.

I'm going to take my cold medicine now and go to bed.

My Yarn Stash

Ao I snapped a pic of my yarn room. Also known as The Barbie room. I admit to having 2 obsessions. Mostly everything is organized in these wire cubes, I got them at Costco years ago...

Yarn that is purchased for a sweater of specific project, is in a bag all together. I may be waiting for the right pattern, or it may already have a pattern tucked in the bag. I'm also a sucker for kits. When I was at Webs late last year, I bought 2 kits.

Then there;s the socks and lace projects. Then TON of leftovers. So I sorted thru and searched Ravelry. I have a few ideas now and some concrete plans, And since this is going to be easy no-brainer projects, they'll be prefect for emergency knitting bag. Packed and in hte truck, right next to the emergency change of clothes.

2011 SABLE

Those of you that know me, have seen my yarn room. Talk about SABLE... Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy.... I actually have yarn stores asking bout MY stock. You also know that my mother is very sick and I'm stressing out due to her illness. One of the "reduce your stress" ideas for 2011 was to do something for others. I'd really like to, but I really just dont have the time.

But I decided yesterday that I do .... sort of. I always keep an emergency knitting bag in my truck. SO I've decided that I'm going to work thru some of that stash making scarves and socks for friends. I've had 3 friends loose a loved one in the last month. I thought it would be a little something I could do. I'll admit, it isn't much, but sometimes just knowing someone cares is more than enough.

I'll have to take a few pics of the stash and post later.

BTW ..another stress reducer is to go the the gym.... I already do that 6 times a week.