OH no....

Not one but two. I blew two holes in my favorite Cherry Tree Hill socks. Can you hear my crying?Don't have to buy this dog expensive toys.....plastic water jug...99 cents!We took her down to the lake last night for a walk....you can lead a dog to water, but you can't keep her out of it.

Mr Tibbs and his first spring bug. I am knitting, really I am!

Swan Lake? or maybe field.......

I had to share these pictures. We were driving around last Sunday and saw several fields of Tundra swans....on their way back north. What an awesome site.

Stash.........................

Alisha asked to "Flash your Stash"!
This really hurts. I gotta knit some of this!!!!!!

Knit night....

It's knit night tonight and Sally Melville's coming........................

knit, knit, knit...

So, having that extra day off helped. The back of Shannon is blocking and the front is half done. I was so anxious to start something new, but I just kept plugging away at this. I'm still amazed at the power of blocking.
Unfortunately, the seed stitch design gets lost in the alpaca yarn.

For spring.....

I told you I was knitting. I give you Tulips for Women. Right now it's getting a light blocking. If you're looking for a quick and easy knit, this is for you. Once again, this yarn is lovely to knit with.


Pattern: Tulips for Women (size med)
Yarn: Dream in Colors Classy
colours: Cloud Jungle, Chinatown Apple, Dusky Aurora, In Vino, Gothic Rose
Needles: 4.5 mm, 3.75 mm

I only used one skein of each colour, but my gauge was a slight tighter than the original. I could've used a 5mm. I knit this for the store, so you'll probably see it at the Knitter's Frolic next month.
So I have two more days off with nothing to do but knit, I'm back to finishing the Alpaca pullover, then on to some baby stuff for Miss "P's" new sister, who should be arriving sometime early June.

Lambin' time.....

While I'm off somewhere trying to make some progress on my knitting I leave you with these......new babies for Easter!

Spring is early....

Spring Knitty is up!

Holy snow....Batman!

We got snow, thunder, lightning, and more snow!!!!!

What is it about dogs and snow? She just won't quit! The more snow the better.

I'm just glad it happened on the weekend and I didn't have to work in it.

And just a small reminder to make sure your walkways and stairs are clear for you mail carrier.

Mostly I sat and watched the snow fall and worked on Tulip. I'm on the seed stitch border, then on to the I-cord.

I thinking, whoever thought of the idea to make these interchangeable circular needles, is a genius. I can leave all the stitches on the cords and put the end caps on and I don't have to transfer them back and forth. From there I start right on the I-cord edge.

Genius, I say!!!!

We'll miss you....Jeff Healey!

I know......

It's been several days since my last post, but really, I've been busy!

Miss "P" was here for the weekend, so not a lot of knitting was done. We did go to the farm however, to see Nanny & Papa, it was their 50th Anniversary. That just reminds me of how old I'm getting. But anyway "P" took some pictures.

Not bad for a 4 year old.

Any hoo.....I was just reading the Harlot, and it sounds like my stash diet is going better than hers. I'm almost through February. I have to knit two sweaters by April, and I know that is helping me from buying yarn, but I just wish I had time to knit some of the stuff I have waiting in my room, maybe soon!!!!

So first up: I whipped up these a couple of weekends ago for a customer of mine who's having a new grandchild (delivery is Friday). Ruth's perfect baby booties , (the pattern can also be found on Ravelry) and a cabled toque from an old Sirdar leaflet. Knit with Sirdar Snuggly DK Fairisle yarn and 3-3/4mm needles. I used on 50g ball.

Second: This is Julie's Ladies Tulip sweater. Have I said how much I love this yarn? The colours are gorgeous.

And Third: The Shannon pullover using the 100% Alpaca. The pattern is from Canaan Mohair, but I don't believe they have a website anymore.

Oh well, I been sitting here to long, back to knitting.

Tulips for Women.....

The best part of knitting for Julie is that I get to bring new yarn home, and I'm not adding it to my stash!!!

Up next: Tulips for Women----Dream in Color Classy yarn

Check out these gorgeous colours!

Isn't she lovely.....

It's done! Tomorrow will be button shopping.
Pattern: Baby Dress (leaflet) size 18 months

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Silk. -- colour 143 Papaya

Needles: 3.25mm

All can be purchased at The Needle Emporium

This was a lovely pattern to knit and it only took me 5 days. The ruffle wasn't so bad (casting on 501 sts) and the body is knit in one piece to the armholes. The shoulders are done with a 3-needle bind off, then the sleeves are picked up with dpn's and knit in the round. Virtually no seams other than sewing the front bands down together. Only the two top buttons are used with buttonholes and rest will be sewn on through both bands and are just decorative. What a concept. I love it.
The Blue Sky Alpaca is lovely to knit with. It almost felt like I was knitting with cotton. I'll post another picture once I have the buttons.

EDIT: How perfect are these? I can't believe I found a colour to match!

Sick time = knitting time....

There's nothing fun about being sick, except uninterupted knitting time.
Looks like I came down with that yukky virus everyone's getting. So, that means alot of movies and knitting for a couple of days.
First up: Baby dress for Julie. Blue Sky Alpaca Silk. I kept putting off starting this because casting on 501 stitches for the ruffle was not an appealing factor for this project. But once I did that, it was smooth sailing and decreasing. This is how much I have done today. I'll be picking up for the sleeves later today. Second: I dropped off the pullover for Leslie, and she just got in her order of commercially dyed and spun Alpaca. This batch is 100% alpaca and the colour is periwinkle. It's a little on the fine side, about a sport weight, so I'm doing a pullover I made a few years ago. I'll have pictures once I get a little farther.

Not just a another sock....

Well I did it....I designed my own sock. It wasn't so hard afterall, just finding a pattern I liked.

Pattern: my own

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug-- colour 71 Fire

Needles: 2.5mm

I looked through my pattern books and found the Diamond Drops stitch. Quite simple really, just a yo, K2, psso both the knit stitches, then a plain knit row, then move the slip stitch over two and another knit row. Easy, Peasy! A nice picot edge top and voila! My Dragon Sox!This yarn is very lovely, but just not enough yardage as far as I'm concerned. With this pattern and doing a 6" cuff I thought I would have enough yarn. But no way, I had to break into a second skein, and of course the handpaint colour was a little different than the first one so I had to alternate the two strands so you wouldn't notice the difference. There was no way I was ripping out the first sock and starting over. So, if you want a pair from one skein you'll be making ankle socks. I might try a pair of Monkeys with a short cuff with what I have left!

Egads....it's nasty outside.....

What do you do after working in this all day? (Please appreciate your mail delivery person today!!)
Sit down with a warm cup of tea, and enjoy knitting from stash! So far I've got through January. This will be my Tuscany Shawl from No Sheep for You, knit with Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn from my stash.Then, I will be perusing through my new book to see what I can knit with my new needles. (Needles and patterns are not included in Knitting from my Stash 2008!)And these were also gifted to me by someone who is supposed to be saving her money to pay for a wedding!!!!!