It Fits But...


I definitely need work on buttonholes....mine always seem to be not quite right. Couple that with the button choice for my Chic Knits Hoodie are a little too big for the buttonholes.

I love the Weekend yarn. A little splitty at times, but feels really good. The down side - joining those pesky ends...on non wools I get a little sloppy and need to take more time on this.

Onto something new!

Have A Great Memorial Day


The sun is shining and it's warming up in Central IL today.

It's A Tradition

It started when I was in 8th grade. My brother had gotten married earlier in the year, and because my sister-in-law wanted to go the races, which meant another female besides myself, my mom and dad let me go with my dad, brother and sister-in-law to the Indy 500. I loved it from the start.

That year we raced home to see the race rebroadcasted on t.v. My mom was painting the living room and couldn't understand why we drove 4 hours to see a race and then
4 hours back to watch the race again! That was before VCRs.

I was highly irritated three years later when my dad was transferred to Indianapolis. Partly because it was the start of my senior year, but the other half was that he wouldn't move to Speedway. If I had to move to Indy, I wanted to be close to the speedway....I thought I wanted to work there some day.

Many years later, I still clear my schedule so I can sit and watch the race.

Enter the other tradition...what better t.v. to watch then to knit while watching the greatest spectacle in racing. I am hoping to finish the hoodie today. I am anxious to pull something out from the WIP basket and work on something new.

I Discovered Something

After some shopping this weekend, I discovered that the Waterfall jacket actually looks good on me. I see these in my future in the knitted versions.

Tell Me I Don't Need This Book?!

Have you looked at the stuff in this book? At first when I heard about it, I sort of ignored it. But, today, I saw some of the pages of the book....tell me just tell me I don't need it...rather tell me the sweaters wouldn't look good on me.

Please just tell me.

Really! This Has Got To Be It

Wore my sweater and a scarf one more time today.

Wore my boots one more time today.

Now, it is totally time for Spring!!

Wednesday Website

Pinterest.com/penny/pins

Leading Towards Tomorrow's Website


I ordered these...just because I love the colors together.


And I ordered these to go with a necklace and ring I have...I love London Blue Topaz

Quelle surpise!

This Is All Leading Somewhere


Isn't this a cool shoe? It's a perfect friendship shoe...the best of both colors!

Good knitting colors aren't they!?

And The Winner Is


Sasha...but I have ripped it back to the beginning and am now casting on less stitches AND leaving out the ribbon eyelets and doing neckline eyelets instead. I'll extend the sleeve to come down mid arm to hide my pelican pouch arms.

Great idea Sue!

My Dilemna

or why I did not knit much last night.

I bought this yarn so I could knit on it on Saturdays when I am Knit Four Together in Dunlap. Cause I like to knit on their yarn while I am sitting there.

This is the top I was talked into knitting. I had planned on lengthening the sleeves cause I can absolutely NOT wear it as is. Then shortening it up a bit so the ribbon does not hit my butt.

I tried Linda's on and with some modifications, the ladies there that Saturday thought it would look good on me? But, I am having serious reservations. Will I really wear this enough to justify knitting it?

Next I cast on for this.

And this morning, I am giving thought to this one...I have a wedding the first weekend in June and at the moment nothing to wear....can I knit it in time?

As a friend said, I am having decision paralysis. I need serious help! Serious.

Typical Thursday



Read the article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/fashion/creating-graffiti-with-yarn.html?_r=2&ref=fashion

Wednesday Website

www.peoriaareastitchersguild.org

Another Catalog


It's no secret I love Knit Picks harmony needles. And I am seriously thinking about trying some of their yarns. Years ago, I bought some Wool of the Andes wool for a felted bag. I liked knitting with it and you couldn't beat the price.

I'm looking at their Tonals in Wool of the Andes. There are some great colorways. And contrary to what people would think, there are a couple that I think would be fun that are NOT my usual colors.





They also have a new cotton that they say you can use for home decor and garments. I don't necessarily think I am going to order this right now, but it would be interesting to see what it feels like. I still like Tahki Cotton Classic as a great cotton for spring/summer sweaters.


And for the yarn that I am going to order---for my hopefully, Knit Camp Contest entry. At 1/2 the cost of the yarn that I was looking at originally, if it is a bust (the design that is) then I am not out a whole lot of money.


Wonder what tomorrow's mail will bring?

You Know It's Crazy

when you like a catalog better than any of the spring knitting magazines that you have gotten in the mail.

Got my Patternworks catalog in the mail today. It's a pretty nice catalog with some patterns that I want to look at. I'm impressed.

And of course the cover isn't pretty cool too.

What A Great Weekend

It was cold. It was rainy. It was windy.

I stayed in all weekend. Knitted, had all my laundry done by this afternoon (usually I am still doing it on Sunday night). Got caught up on a couple of movies I had from Netflix. Watched a lot of DVRed stuff I had. Watched Meg and EZ a bit in the Knitting Around Video.

And finally got the rib done on the Chic Hoodie I am knitting from Berrocco Weekend.


It was a great weekend!! With absolutely no place or nothing I had to do other than laundry! A couple of mental health days without having to use vacation or sick time.

Get Used To It


I got my book a couple of days ago. Yes, I have plenty already on needles,but there are a couple of the sweaters in here that I am just want to start right now. For me alot of the process of knitting is the planning and those first few inches to see what the pattern is like and how the yarn will react.

I am really trying to get the yarn room stock down, so I really do not want to buy any yarn for any of the projects I start. The last couple of mornings I have went in with my book and just sat looking at the wall trying to see what would be good for some of the things from Knit One Knit All.


From Chris of Briar Rose. I bought this last winter. No, not my usual colors, but at the time, I thought it might be a change to do something else. The yarn feels fantastic, but the color still has me wondering.


I think it will be perfect for this coat. I won't make mine as long, but I think it will be great for kicking around in blue jeans! I've already cast on for it!

It's Going To Be One Of Those

weekends....A good weekend to be around home and do some knitting and some reading and some cleaning.

The weather people have been promising rain all week long and we have managed to have some sunny and quite warm weather. About an hour after the weekend starts, the rains came and tomorrow's high is maybe going to 58 if we are lucky....it will give me a chance to wear my Orange Remix sweater one more time!

But the boots are not coming out, well maybe not!

Wednesday Website

http://www.woolandcompany.com/blog/knit-knit-elizabeth-zimmerman/

Got my book today and I agree with this blog today.

It's Too Hot

They say it was in the 90's here today...all I know is that it is hot in the house. Too hot to knit on the Alpaca Shawl. Well, of course I have other stuff to knit while I watch the Cardinals/Cubs game tonight...and I am, but I'm bored with the stockinette hoodie I am knitting on.

While I was getting cooled off in the basement, I noticed a stack of magazines on the desk. They seem to be all Spring and Summer editions.

I must have had them out for a reason, so I think I'll just peruse them while I wait for the Cardinals to win....

Patiently Waiting


Anyday now, my copy will be waiting for me when I get home. I've been waiting since last July....patiently and normally, I am not a patient person. Once it gets hear, I fully intend to cast on something from it.....and probably not just one.

Be prepared for lots of posts on this one.

Changing Horses

I have had my Three Irish Girls Yarn in the Gulf of Mexico colorway for sometime now. I've tried several things out in it, the last being a shawl, but just have not been lovin any of them.

The last shawl was in garter and the garter stitch just was not letting the soft feel of the yarn come through. After giving it a few days to see if that is what it wanted it to be, I ripped it out last night.


Enter Effortless. I've wanted to do it for sometime, and have been deciding from the Irish Yarn and another. Very early this morning, I casted on, we'll see as this progresses.

Of course, before I start any knit project, I head on over to Ravelry to see what others are saying about it, what yarns it is being knit out of and to see how it looks on different body types. A must for me before I knit anything lately. It's a great resource for me!

One of the things I discovered through the research and looking at the schematic is that the arm is really narrow and will never fit these pelican bill arms of mine. When I get to that point, I will definitely have to adjust the stitches there.

Stay tuned, we'll see if this is the one!

Yes I Do!


But you already knew that I generally have knitting nearby while I drive....not when I drive, necessarily, but definitely within reach should I get jammed up in construction traffic.

And it seems that no matter which way I go over the river, there is always road construction.

At the moment though, the shawl I was knitting on is on thin ice. I am still not lovin the shawl and giving some serious thought to changing it up for a sweater.
We'll see how it fairs in the next couple of days.

Now What Are You Doing?


I thought this was going to be a shawl....a simple shawl.

Have you ever started knitting something just because you thought you should but the whole time you are, you keep thinking you could have made a better choice? Thats what is happening with my Gulf of Mexico colorway. I'm just not happy with it as a shawl....I think it really wants to be a sweater.

So, instead of ripping out the shawl, I started doing stockinette on just a few of the stitches to get a small gauge to get the feel of it in stockinette. Then, if it really wants to be a sweater, I'll have a start on what needle to use. And if not, I only have to rip back to the start of the stockinette and make it a shawl.

Wednesday Website

http://babycocktails.blogspot.com/

Just Finished

reading this nice book. Normally at lunch, I either work or knit. But this book was a nice diversion that I ate and read some of it at my desk today.

A nice read that I recommend.

It's May Day

The first of May, the first of the month, the first day of the week, hopefully, we'll see more sun this week and less rain! What can I say I am optimistic.

Time for new stuff and cleaning out the old.

Yesterday, when I tried to find something for Spring that I had knitted that I could wear to the Stitchers Guild Luncheon, I came up short. I tried both of last year's sweaters on and gave a critical look in the mirror. Neither of them are flattering this year, so they are coming out of the drawers and going to the Southside Mission box tomorrow.

I've decided I am only wearing those things out in public that look good on me (in my opinion)
I took a couple of weeks off from WW. I still watched what I ate, but have not been writing it down nor have I been walk/running in that much time. Too many things going on. T

Today it is back at it on both fronts!


And finally, some clean up is in order. I am noodlin on two new projects after yesterdays foray into finding something I actually knitted that I could wear for Spring. I'll blog on that later this week when I come to a decision.

I need to do my squares for the PASG afghan and have one idea that I am going to see what happens with it perhaps today.

Also, today is the start date for the Wool Peddler's Shawl KAL on the group Knitaway. That too, I'll blog about this week.

I have plenty of things to blog about this week it seems so stay posted. In the meantime, enjoy the sun if it is around where you are at. It was beautiful this morning and would have been a good day to go out and take some pics, but its gone now, so I'll work inside today and watch some baseball!