Happy Birthday to me....

All that's missing is the big red ribbon and a cake..............I am the luckiest woman alive!!!!I Love You Honey!

Two of a kind....

Sometimes life turns around and bites you right in the a....!!! My baby 30 years ago and his baby now. They're about the same age here. Scary but true!!!!Boy is he going to have his hands full!!!!

Jeanie.....

Julie took a picture of Jeanie for me. So there you go, I think it looks pretty much the same.

Just made it...

I got Jeanie in just under the wire for Julie and the Knitter's Fair on Saturday. I ran short on yarn so I'll have to lengthen the collar later. And with all the running around I had to do on Friday, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. So, I'll leave you with the pic from the book and all my blocked pieces till I take my own.Pattern and Yarn: Rowan Cocoon 10 balls for the medium size
Needles: 6mm & 7mm
The yarn was like butter to knit with and the cables just popped. And with the large needles it went quite quickly. (Quicker if I had less interruptions.)

And after that I got to enjoy a little bath time with Miss "P" and Miss "R". This girls are just growing up too fast for me.

Now I'll be knitting up a succession of baby and kids stuff because it seems I'm at that age where all my friends are having grandchildren. Then maybe I might get something knit for myself. Stay tuned.

Ooops.....

Well, I was motoring right along until I saw this....... one of these things is not like the others!

So I had to tink back half the left front, but it's fixed now! I thought these things only happened to the Harlot. Must concentrate.

You can check out our latest dye party results here! I'll post mine this weekend after I skein them.

Long weekends.........

This has been one of those long weekends I just didn't want to end.

Saturday I found a couple of lazy cats who had snuck into the wool room and made themselves comfortable. Yes, that is Duece laying on a lovely nest of merino. Ssh, don't tell Leslie. He's never bothered with the wool before.And Russell is just happy with any cardboard box.

I've been working on this new project for Julie. A cabled cardigan from the new Rowan Cocoon. The yarn is like butter. It's knit on 7mm needles and going quite quick.

The daughter and I spent a girls day in the back yard dying some more yarn. It was alot of fun doing it outside and this is much nicer to look at than laundry drying.

And Lady-dog ended up having a play date with two wandering Retrievers. We finally found they're owners looking for them, they just moved in a couple of doors down and I guess they decided to check out the neighbourhood. And now that they know Lady has a pool I think we'll be seeing more of them. You know how that is.

Can I please stay home the rest of the week?

Warm summer day.....

Today was a visit to the Alpaca Farm for Miss "P" and I. These guys are so cute.
From this..... to this......
The reason for the visit was to drop of Leslie's new sweater. My own design, top down raglan with a stag horn cable and side vents. 100% Alpaca and it took approximately 1250 yds of light worsted weight. I'm in the process of writing the pattern out, but this one was a learning process for me and there are a few things I need to tweak. But all in all I'm pretty happy with it. And there are still a couple of skeins left to make some socks.

And yes, that is a pair of Fetching to go with it.P.S.: Thank-you to my model. (it was pretty warm out to be wearing a sweater)

Now I'm working on a cardigan for Julie for the Knitter's Fair. Pictures soon.

So big....

It's amazing how fast they grow...Rowan is already smiling and cooing and sticking her tongue out alot.
Paisley is swimming like a fish and not afraid to go in the pool by herself anymore. (As long as gramma is close by, of course!)And little Miss Rowan is wearing her Yarni Cardigan already, the sleeves are just a little long. I guess I'll have to knit one in DK weight just to get a bigger size.
And during this lovely photo shoot she christened it with a little spew!!!! Good thing it's superwash.In other knitting news, I finished the Alpaca sweater for Leslie. I'll take some photos when it has dried. And I had enough yarn left over to knit a pair of Fetching for her. (still in progress)

Egads.....

I was sent this to post on my blog but the funny thing is I was attacked by a cat once. It was a mail slot in a door and when I lifted it to push the mail through a black paw with claws popped through and nailed my hand. Scared the crap out of me too!!!!!!

Holy lightning bolts Batman........

There's nothing quite like having to work outside in a thunderstorm.......lightning flashing over your head while your delivering mail to metal boxes........I'm soaked to the bone.

But now that I'm home safe and sound, my wrinkled fingers and toes drying, I think I'll sit with my Timmie's and knit, knit, and knit.

Here's a little peak at our dye job.

We'll definately be doing some more of this!!!!

I almost forgot...when you can't buy wool, the next best thing......Namaste!!!!

Green....

Although I love those dark earthy tones of green, this little sweater has grown on me. I just finished this one up for the store. All the yarns and book can be purchased there. I think the top-downs' are becoming my new favorite patterns.

Pattern: Top Down for Toddlers by Cabin Fever

Yarn: Naturally Loyal 8 ply/DK 100% wool machine washable 6--50g balls

Needles: 4mm circs

And this one, I can only take credit for half of it. I finished this one for a customer. Same book same needles.

Yarn: Naturally's Magic Garden Buttons Wash & Wear DK & Fun Fur

And on the non-knitting front, if you're looking for some unique one of a kind jewelrey, take a browse through Wandering Cat Studio's Etsy shop.

And now I'm off to skein up some yarn!

Girls gone wild....

The results of our yarn dying yesterday. This was alot of fun. As you can see somebody doesn't like to follow the rules and wear gloves, (she's always been like that) I think it's her free spirit or she just doesn't like to listen to her mother.

This one is for you Samantha.....remember that lovely dishcloth you knit for her. All the rules-- right out the window.We did end up with some nice colours. And now seeing them on the yarn, I have some more ideas for next time.

So while they're drying, I finished sewing on the buttons for the baby set I knit for a co-worker. She picked the pattern and the yarn came from my stash.

Pattern: Sirdar Snuggly Book of Baby & Toddler Knits 3-6 mos

Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly DK colour 0399 4-50g balls

This pattern is from Book #282. I only modified the hat. Instead of knitting back and forth I did it in the round and made I-cord ties. I would definitely think about doing this one top down and with no shaping on the lower section. All in all not one of my favorite knits but it did go quickly.

Resistance is futile.......

Intermission....

I'm just finishing up a couple of items for Julie and I'll post them when they're done. In the meantime......some of my lastest pics.

Miss "P" and Grampa weeding the garden. Children are good for something!

Baby sister doing her thing.

Awesome spider shot. I found this little guy blowin' in the wind yesterday. (I love this camera)

And I got my moo cards.Unfortunately I had to upgrade Flicker to a pro account so I could keep posting pictures on Ravelry and you get 10 free moo cards. (It's amazing how fast 200 shots add up and you can't add anymore.)

I'm back....

You really notice how much you miss your computer when it's down. But, my computer guru has me back up and running (something about a nasty virus I picked up). And Bell has finally given me a new modem (only been waiting for 2 years).
So onto to knitting news:
While I was down, I finished Baby "R's" new blanket. The story behind this one is, I started it several times (not this pattern but the blanket). I had several balls of Sirdar Snuggly Magic Stripes in the stash and it kept telling me to crochet a ripple baby blanket. I really had the urge to crochet, I don't get it too often, but this yarn was screaming "CROCHET Ripple". How could I refuse? So after days of searching for the right pattern, 3 attempts, and 3 times ripping out, being totally frustrated, wondering why I was'nt liking this blanket, my wise and wonderful daughter looked at me and said "Mom, that's because you're a Knitter with a captial K, not a crocheter"!!!
Geez, why didn't that occur to me? So while I was searching Ravelry for that one perfect crocheted blanket, I came across this one:
Rippled Baby Blanket (rav link), and if you aren't a member of Ravelry you can find it here.

It's a great pattern, the only thing I found wrong with it was on the second and forth rounds of the pattern repeat, the count is off by 2 stitches, so instead of k2tog 3x, you have to k1, k2tog 2x, and that way your ripples all line up evenly.

I will definately be making this one again.

Ice cream and rainbows......

This one knit up very quick. I love this pattern. Helena (summer issue of knitty). I'm still knitting from my stash too.

I used Sirdar Snuggly again (seem to have alot of that in my wool room). 3--50g balls. This colourway is Strawberry Cream, and the whole time I was knitting it, all I could think about was Cherry Vanilla Frozen Yogurt. The buttons are from my stash too.

The only modifications I made, was lengthening the sleeves and putting on buttons instead of ties. Excellent pattern and very well written. There are so many possibilities with this pattern.

We're getting more thunderstorms again today, so I thought I would post a couple of pictures of the rainbow we caught up to on Tuesday.