Just A Little Sunday Fun!

Taking A Moment From Market Previewing

With Stitches Midwest just a few days away, I've spent most of my afternoon refining my list of booths to visit first.  We have names for people like me (very big grin)!  But, now that I have refined the list, I decided to list them numerically and not go to the booths on Thursday night I normally would want to hit up first.

I think I'll do a bit of departure from "my normal" and start at the first aisle and take my time looking at the booths.    Of course that may all change, because that is just the way I am.  Oh, yes, I have a list of things I am looking for, but I figure, with a show this big, the vendors ought to have enough on hand to at least get us through the first night.

So, I am closing the book/laptop on looking at the market preview (for now) and going to knit tonight away while watching the Cardinals play along with maybe an episode or two of Madam Secretary - I am totally liking this show now that I can watch it on Netflix one after another.

What am I knitting right now?

I am kind of fixated on Susan B. Anderson's new sock pattern.  I've got the waste yarn in for the heel.  And although, I don't think I'll get the heel in tonight, but I may.

I am totally loving this color way from Must Stash Yarns - Koi Pond.  I normally would do my rib all the way down to 1" shy of the heel, but for this one, I'm following Susan's pattern.

And I have the perfect bag for my socks from Stitched by JessiLu.  Don't you think?!

Now, back to list making for what to wear!  Happy Saturday!!

Wednesday WIP

Poor little Kailyard!  It has not seen any love in the last 2 weeks. Poor thing has just been hanging out, waiting for someone to knit on it.

There are so many knits swirling around in my brain and the itch to cast on something new is unbelievable.  But, then I look at what I have accomplished so far on Kailyard and I am itching to knit on it some more.   I'm on the Blossoms chart right now and there are several of the repeats for it, but on the upside there are some plain stockinette rows too.

And how about those bumblebees?  They were not easily visible to me while I was knitting them, but now that they are done, I just can't help but smile when I stretch the shawl out and pick them out!

So, I've decided to start committing some more time on my Kailyard and see if I can at least get the Blossoms repeats done before going to Stitches Midwest in a Week!

From My Library

Heirloom Knitting's Shetland Hap Shawls Then & Now by Sharon Miller.  

I love this book.  I love looking at the pictures of old and reading about Hap Shawls.  I wasn't really overly interested in history when I was in school, but for some reason when it comes to knitting history, I now enjoy reading about it and most of all looking at the pictures.  When I look at the pictures and read about the process of getting a shawl from wool to a finished, blocked wearable shawl, I can't help but think about the hard work and conditions they had to endure to work their craft.

 This book, although thin and had to be ordered from the U.K., is packed with info, charts and ideas.

There are several pages of charts and color combinations for Hap Shawls.  Every time I pick up this book, I get a bit of hankering to cast on one or two.

There have been a couple of books lately on Hap Shawls as well as some patterns, and one of them may be my Hap Shawl this year or maybe one of Sharon Miller's.  Either way, each time I pull this book off of my book shelf, I see something new.

The book may not be for everyone, but it is a favorite of mine!

Full Disclosure

For some time now, I have been trying to lose some weight.  Evidently, I have not been very serious about it as I am still wearing the same size I was then.  But, when I logged into Weight Watchers on Saturday, it indicated that I was down 5 pounds from a little less than a year ago.  That made it feel a bit better.

Yes, I am back doing Weight Watchers.  I've tried the Fit Bit, although, I am still going to try for more than 5000 steps a day (look at my new skin for it), and I've done the My Fitness Pal which is a free App, but it just has not been working.

Not to go into too much detail, but the last year +, I've been dealing with a couple of medical issues, neither of them are life threatening, it would just be nice if I took care of at least one of them this Fall which would make my life a bit easier.  I've been putting both of the procedures off because, mainly finding a good time to be off of work, but also because  A. I'm  a wuss, B. I'll probably be off 4-6 weeks with each procedure and C.  And with one, I'll be on crutches.

Which brings me back to the reason for this post.  I am hoping by blogging about it, you dear readers will keep me honest about my weight loss journey  and not let me slack!  I'd like to lose a few pounds before I schedule either of them as to make recovery and in the case of crutches, a little easier on this body of mine to get around.  Specially cause I have never ever been on crutches!  And that for some reason bothers me most of all.

Weight Watchers worked for me about 10 years ago, when I first lost 50 pounds.  I've paid them off and on for the last 10 years and well, managed to lose 5 pounds it would seem, not necessarily with their program.  But, I do remember that when I did Weight Watchers it did work for me.  I can eat what I want as long as I account for it and very much doable at least for my life style as well as the Tall Guy who cooks for me.

Tomorrow, we are back to talking about Summer of Shawls.  There will be intermittent blogs about weight loss and ways of coping, but I have a thought for today, if I am knitting, I am not snacking, right?

What are you knitting this Summer?  Happy Monday!

A Weekend for Playin

First up, Happy Birthday dear Victoria!  Victoria is a dear friend and I am blessed to know her.  She is such a giving woman and she knits too!  And a lover of yarn as well.

I've got no Stash Dash to report as there were no finished Friday objects, but I can tell you I've been having some fun this weekend, playing around with my knitting.  I spent yesterday tossing some design ideas around for possible Hospice Shawls, ending up the day with getting files and bags and knitting straightened around then onto trying to figure out what I want to have done for Stitches Midwest in less than two weeks (yea, right, like that is going to happen) and finishing up with just having a bit of fun taking some pics of go to t-shirts, knits, knitting and bags.

Then late into last night/very early this morning, I got a hankering to join in a KAL over on the Itty Bitty Knits Group on Ravelry.  The sock is the latest pattern from Susan B. Anderson and her sample was knit out of a yarn from Must Stash Yarns.  It is so super hard to get sock yarn from Must Stash because everyone loves and covets it, so I had my friend Sue pick me some up at DFW last year.

The KAL was the perfect time to cast on these socks and it gave me a bit of a break from a couple of projects I am knitting on right now.  I love the no brainer of a sock.

And I am totally loving watching the colors evolve out of the skein, I want to knit just one more stripe to see where it goes next.

While watching my sock grow, I remembered a shawl that I cast on a month or so back, which I pulled out, and started playing around with possible back drops for it.  There seems to be some possibilities here.

But, wait, there's more.  And it is perfect for the Summer of Shawls, now isn't it?!

And if I work very hard at my knitting, I may just have a pair of socks and a shawl for Stitches Midwest.

It's terribly hot here in Central IL, and looks like there will be a small little storm pass through in a couple of hours, we are hoping it cools down a bit, but in the mean time, I'll keep cool inside with my knitting.

Have a great week!

Which Came First?

The sweater, the bag or the shoes???

The bag on this one.  Then the shoes.  And the shoes were a coincidence.  I tried to get a more blue in both the shoes and the bag.  But, I bought, the bag first.  I've been carrying it all week and can fit a ton of stuff in it.  The only thing that is on the downside of it is that the sides keep folding in and is not super easy to get into quick.  But, it does hold everything including a knitting bag when I go to work.

 And then came the sweater, sort of.  I bought the yarn sometime ago and am just getting around to casting on it.  But, I think it goes pretty well with the shoes and bag.  Again, none of the three were planned to go together, it just sort of happened that way.

These lovelies (which are closer to the my fave color way) just happened to all go together.  The sweater is one I knit several years back, the Toms came next (Sue found them for me), then the bag from Mrs. Browns Bags came and finally, the bag.  It was a deal from Charming Charlie's last weekend with the first bag above.  The only downside to this bag, I just wished it had a couple of inches more on the straps so it would fit over the shoulder.

If I could just marry the straps from the first bag with the bag from above, I'd be just fine in the bag department.  The search continues….

Monday Mail Call!

My after camp purchases arrived today!

First from, well, you know

For Nancy's vest in khaki

And for Milkweed

Ant to make a scarf that Susan was wearing, I ordered some Revive that is being discontinued.

I am super excited to knit on all of them, but alas, I am not going to immediately cast on, yet.  But soon, very soon!

Finally Finished Friday - Contest Version

I was pleased that I placed 8th in the Camp Contest this year.  The theme was Knitterature.

I chose the Three Color Cashmere Shawl by Joji.  The colorways were all Willy Wonka inspired.  I brought my book and read a bit from it and enticed the voters with chocolate!

And you can tell by the 1st and 2nd place winners, how stiff a competition it was!

Next year's theme is Circus!

Show and Tell!

I'm just saying, the Show and Tell was fabulous this year again.  So much so, it just gets the creative juices just flowing!  This is just a smattering of what was there.  Our camp calendar will show so many more!

And the best of show and tell for the knitter is when Meg gets up and looks at yours more closely!

No, this is not me, but it was still fun to see another knitter's reaction.  Show and Tell was again a highlight of this year's camp.

Wednesday WIP

While at camp,  I spent my time on these two shawls.

First up was my Kailyard.  I was surprised at how much I could actually knit on it while sitting in the classroom and the living room at night.  And not having to rip too far back while doing it.

And on my Sea Peddler shawl when I needed something a bit more mindless!

I am pleased with both of their progresses for a weekend of knitting.

Knit Camp - Friends Edition

Every July, I am lucky enough to travel with Linda to Meg Swansen's Knit Camp.  It is an incredible weekend and as I have said before we both just come back so rejuvenated in our knitting and talk incessantly on what we want to knit next and what direction we want to take our knitting.

These incredible knitters make that happen for us!