Preemie Hats

Here's a couple of quick pictures of some of the preemie hats I have been working on. I absolutely LOVE doing these! (Just not wild about making the pom-poms.) :)

Completely Caught Up!

I FINALLY am completely caught up on the Monthly Knit Dishcloth knit alongs! With the time I had to knit over the weekend and a few nights this week with nothing going on, I finally got all of my back knitting done. What an awesome feeling! :)

I am going to try to take another picture tomorrow morning. Orange does NOT photograph well. Related to that - my light box bit the dust over the weekend. Full house, two kids, big dog, rammy husband and precious little storage space meant the light box went on top of the piano. Unfortunately, there were also some books on top of the piano that went through the side of the light box. I was a little bummed but not terribly so. I wasn't haven't great luck taking pictures with it, just good luck. Maybe I'll try again another day. :)

Here's a slightly less orange'y orange. I think it shows the detail MUCH better than the other picture. Plus you don't need sunglasses to look at it!

Playing Catch-Up

Had some lovely time to knit this weekend - finally! Emily helped pick up the house Saturday so I had most of the afternoon and evening free to just play around. I decided to try to catch up on the KAL's that started before I joined the Monthly Dishcloth Group. I am trying to complete the challenge (making all 24 cloths for the year) and had two to finish. I completed the Diamonds on Lace cloth this morning. It's a very pretty cloth with a cool pattern.






Funny thing is, I joined the group the first part of February and I remember looking back at that cloth and the directions and thinking "I'll NEVER be able to make that!!!" I'm thrilled with how many new things I have learned in the last few months. I'm forever grateful to the members and owners of the various groups I belong to. :)

Mother's Day 2008 - Hunter and I went yesterday and bought some flowers for the front porch. That was my present. The kids and I went to Sunday School and church this morning and Toby made us brunch (Belgian waffles - yum!) Played a round of Garbage with Hunter and have been reading and knitting. No complaints here!

Ribbit, Ribbit

I have had the worst luck with my knitting lately! Seems I have been frogging more than I have been completing. I started a Dragonfly cloth a few nights ago and somewhere I got off a line. It took me several lines to realize my image was now reveresed (the "ins" were "outs" and vice versa). I was so frustrated I wound up frogging the whole thing and putting the yarn away!

Maybe I'll just stick to Tribbles for a few days...

Another KAL Done!

Just finished the May KAL for the Monthly KAL group. I thought this was a very pretty cloth! (And just a few days after my wedding anniversary).

Also did another slip stich cloth - this time in Hawkeye/Starmont colors. Was a fun cloth to do but I might try adding a border of some sort next time. Either that or it's finally time to learn to crochet borders. :)

Round and Round

I finished my very first circular cloth last night thanks to a pattern from The Dishcloth Boutique. (I used the Cotton Dishcloth pattern) Once I got the hang of this, it was a very fun cloth to make and pretty quick too! This was also the first cloth I did that involved turning. It's so much fun to learn new stuff! I have to admit though, I frogged this cloth three times because I didn't think it looked quite right. Each time though it looked the same so I finally decided that must be the pattern...It was.

Happy knitting everyone!

April Mid-Month KAL

Finished my April Mid-Month KAL. I LOVE this pattern! I'm sure I will be making more of these in the future.

Also attempted a light box tonight. It turned out good but I made it a little on the small side. I think I will try another one tomorrow night. (I'm sure my husband will be thrilled to death).

Two Knit Alongs Done!

Two more for the books. First off is the "Meadow" cloth from the Monthly Knit Along group. I think this cloth is SUPER cute! It was also my first experience with bobbles (which weren't NEARLY as hard as I thought they would be!)

Second is another Knit Along - this one from Love 2 Knit Dishcloths. I'm not 100% sure I did this one right but it's a pretty neat design nonetheless.

In other news, we had another trip to the dentist and orthodontist yesterday. (And once again it was RAINING - everytime we go it seems to rain). Emily had two cavities filled and Hunter had one. Hunter also had 4 teeth pulled. He has a lot of crowding in his mouth and they are hoping this will eliminate some problems down the road. At the orthodontist Emily had her impressions done in preparation for braces on Friday. Hunter had another spacer put in between his molars. One is caught on the next and needs a little help. Another busy day!

Small Update...

I've been meaning to take pictures for over a week and finally got around to it tonight. First cloth is the Illusion Bunny I did with the Monthly KAL group. I'm still somewhat undecided on this cloth. I liked the blue and white together and I liked the lines, but I'm not sure I like the overall design. Something different anyway and I like working with two colors.



Second is my Tribble! This was REALLY fun to make and something I will DEFINITELY be doing again. I threw this in my purse and worked on it here and there. We have a lot of upcoming track meets, orthodontist appointments, dentist appointments and allergist visits, so I will again have some free knitting time! (Trying to look on the bright side here.) :)

Related to that, found out last week that both kids will need to have braces. Emily will get hers shortly and Hunter will have some work done first, then go into them. Emily also has to start having a weekly allergy shot. They retested her and she had a major reaction to dust mites and a more minor reaction to household dust and cats. Fortunately, we don't have a cat. Unfortunately, dust is everywhere. We have a few changes to make as far as bedding and such and of course the weekly shots. She was NOT impressed to say the least!

Other than that, things continue to be as crazy busy as always. Volleyball finished up two weeks ago and we are into track now. Went to the Middle School play Friday night and I told one of the other mothers "do you ever feel like you LIVE at the school??" Guess I'm glad she's involved but MAN it would be nice to have a calm, quiet, sports-free week. 5 more years and I'm all over that. :)

Plugging Along

I have several things on the needles (much to Toby's dismay!) My knitting has pretty much taken over one entire corner of the living room. My goal over the coming weekend is to organize it all before the Easter Bunny comes. :)

Here's the March Mid-Month KAL in progress.

I have been messing around with making stitch markers. I rarely use them but I thought they looked like fun to make. I had no idea what kind of beads to get, so I just picked up a couple of random packages. I tell ya what - these things are addicting! They are also harder than heck to get a decent picture of as they tend to swing and sway.

And talk about addicting - I've started knitting Tribbles. I'll post pics of those later. :)

Emily's volleyball is over for this year. I spent quite a few Sundays knitting between games. They didn't win their tourney last week, but I think they had a great season and a lot of fun. It's been amazing to watch their growth throughout the year. They look like a whole new team! (Emily is number 99.)

Ladies Night this Thursday! My two sisters, my best friend and I are going to Galena, IL to stay overnight. We have rented what is called a "cottage". (Hopefully it's as nice as it sounds!) Two bedrooms, fireplace, DVD player and TV, outside hot tub, etc. Friday will be spent walking though the shops. I cannot WAIT!

Other than that, we are still battling various stages of the flu. Hunter has been down since Friday night. I think he's on the upswing now but he's sure not been feeling good. I can't wait for the weather to improve. Maybe then we can get rid of all of this gunk!

Ballband Cloth Done!

And here it is! Craziness that I did it in Cyclone colors (boooo) but I love the way it turned out. I will be making many many more of these!

Still working on various other projects. Em has a volleyball tourney this weekend so that's always quality knitting time!

Busy Busy! and a lost camera...

Finally getting around to posting some pictures! My daughter had taken my camera over the weekend (without permission!) so I wasn't able to take any pictures.

Finished my first (of 4) placemats and I absolutely love how it turned out. I didn't put the fringe on the ends though - I actually tried a couple and I really didn't like the look so I took them back off.

I also made a knitting bag for myself over the weekend. I knew what I wanted but couldn't find anything quite like it. I bought a bunch of remnants at Wal-Mart a while back and one of those worked out perfectly. It has 4 outer pockets for yarn, a velcro closure and handles to lug it around. It's small enough to take with me to volleyball games (always important!) but big enough to hold a couple of projects.

Completed Diagonal Ripple Cloth

And my proud moment - when I started knitting I thought the Ballband Cloth was the coolest looking thing but the pattern scared the bejeepers out of me. Two years later and the pattern looked a LOT easier. Here's one in progress.

My current project of sorts is making dishcloths for camping. Everyone in my family seems to really like the cloths and we all camp so....it just seems the thing to do! :)

Giveaway...Gone Away

Tonight I gave a whole pile of dishcloths to my sister. She just moved into her own apartment and I thought it would be kind of a fun housewarming thing. I love to make them and she says she loves to use them, it was a win-win!

2 Done, 1 Going....

February Love2KnitDishcloths KAL - in progress...

Rachel's Dishcloth - used up a few scraps of yarn

Another of the Monthly Dishcloth KAL cloths. I wanted to try this pattern with a variegated yarn and a solid. I really like how it turned out! This is actually the second one I did - gave the first away before I took a picture of it. :)

Keep on keeping on....

Nothing finished today but I've got quite a few things going! Started another KAL this morning - YAY! Have a couple of other dishcloths on the needles, including a No Need Pattern cloth and a 2nd of the February Mid-Month KAL (LOVE this pattern!)

And now for the big news...I finally started an afghan! As much as I love knitting, I thought I should finally jump in and try something a little bigger. Now don't get me wrong...I still LOVE my dishcloths...but I thought it was time for something else. What absolutely floors me is it takes me around 15 whole minutes to do ONE ROW! I can have a good start on a dishcloth in 15 minutes! Totally different mindset I guess. :)

Totally unrelated side note - Idol tonight! Didn't the David's ROCK tonight? Last week I completely called the two guys that were going home. This week I can't even hazard a guess. Jason Y. was a little weak tonight but he's the only one that really stood out. I didn't think that Micheal Johns was as good as he has been. And phew - David Cook looked HOT tonight!

February KAL 2

Finished this and finally got pictures taken this morning. The first one shows the "window" detail better but the second one shows the colors better. Not overly wild about the colors together. Funny how they looked so much better in my yarn basket than they do now. :)

This was a fun cloth to make though. In fact, I did another one today while I was at my daughter's volleyball game. Did variegated (shades of green and ivory) and green. It turned out really cool. No pictures though as I already gave it away.

February KAL Part 2

I think I'm doing something wrong...



Can't quite decide from looking at other people's pictures.

On the needles...

Right now I'm plugging away on several dishcloths. I've got the 2nd February KAL going as well as an older one that I found the pattern for. I found some patterns on the Lily website that looked interesting so I started those and I have another Harvest Moon No Need Pattern going as well (I absolutely LOVE this design!)

Yesterday our area had another 6 inches of snow come in (plus 1/4 inch of ice) so the whole family was inside. I had made a quick trip to stock up on yarn and groceries on Saturday, so we were set. :) Our Pamida has an excellent selection of Peaches n' Creme yarns....better than Wal-Mart lately.

Today we are slowly digging out of the snow.

Arghhhh

Well I am quite frustrated at this point. I was working on the February KAL last night and somehow I wound up with an extra stitch. I haven't done that in quite a while! To make matters worse, while I was trying to fix that, I dropped the whole works and wound up with a mess. I worked on it for a little while but wound up setting it down because I was getting more and more irritated. Should mention that I have a HORRIBLE cold and quite possibly should have been in bed by that point!

Funny thing, I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about my poor abandoned knitting laying on the living room floor. Took every ounce of self-control I had to NOT get up and attempt fixing it.

Maybe today it will go better!

Kind of excited - OK VERY excited - I get to go yarn shopping today! YAY!

Just Completed!

First and foremost, I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures. My camera batteries have gone dead so I was about midway through experimenting with the best camera settings.

First dishcloth is from Lily Sugar 'n Cream's Website. I used pattern number 105 - Collonade.

Second is the No Need Pattern from Harvest Moon Upper Room. I have to admit I spent a LONG time on the Harvest Moon site yesterday admiring all of the patterns. If money were no object, I would have them all! :)