1/2 an FO

 I've been working on this sock for three days. I'm not sure I like how it turned out. I don't know if it is the pattern, the yarn, or me but I don't like the way it feels on my foot. It is supposed to be for my mom. Her fit is slightly bigger than mine and I'm doubting it fits. 

I made this bag yesterday

  I was over at Susan's and saw her finished bag. The pattern is here. My daughter picked the yarn out of my stash. Unfortunately, I ran out of yarn so that is where I stopped. You can see the completed bag at Susan's or with the pattern. I'm not sure I followed the instructions either, but my daughter was pleased to have a bag in a few hours.

My three season knitting spot

  Miss Moonbeam shared her favorite knitting spot, so I thought I would share my current knitting spot. I don't know that it is my favorite, but it's practical with little kids to watch playing with the Brio waterway on the driveway. I spared you that view. The birdhouse in the background belongs with my collection on the porch. The house wrens that lived in there were taken out along with the door in a storm that produced a tornado within a mile of our house. The new tenants are bumble bees. We had a disagreement about using the front door so they were relocated. For two days they still held the front door hostage. I think we have a truce. As long as no one goes any further towards the birdhouse than my knitting chair, we coexist peacefully.

Another view of my knitting spot

  

One view from my knitting spot

  

My porch

  

Today's yarn order from Elann

 Sock it to me Esprit and Esprit color and Baby Star in Blueberry Ice 

Easy knitting

 When I need some easy knitting, I've been working on dish towels. I saw some cheerful dishcloths at Dani's blog (look here in the archives) and decided to make some of my own. My mom picked out the bright greens for her kitchen. The button is vintage from my great-grandmother's button bin. The yarn was Sugar n Cream Summer Splash from Joann's. I used the scraps from the dishcloth and the towel to make the scrubbies. They take very little yarn and knit up in a jiffy. 

A couple more

   Patterns: Scrubbie,
Round Dishcloth, and Dish Towel

Pi Shawl continues

 It's full of surprises. I thought that I would like less lace with the handpained. Well, that gave me a bulls eye effect. I'm not liking it. When I started the next lace pattern, I liked the way the handpainted was responding. I'm considering this a learning experience. 

This was on our post this morning

 I thought it was a really cool butterfly. Unfortunately, the flash on the camera scared him away before I could get the kids. 

Yesterday's Rainbow

 It was sunny and pouring rain so I sent my husband out with the kids to find a rainbow yesterday. 

The shawl battle continues

Roo-Bee asked in the comments if the shawl is for me. I'm not really sure who the shawl is for. I have some shawl failures (Kiri and Flower Basket Shawl). At this point this shawl is an unhealthy obsession. I am not letting a few wee balls of wool get the better of me. I will FORCE this alpaca into the form I wish it to take. Hopefully the guys in white coats don't haul me away over this one. If there isn't a knitting deficit at the end of the day, I will post pictures tomorrow.

I quit counting after 12...

 I'm not sure how many times I restarted the pi shawl. I'm optimistic that this is the final try and that I am on my way. I guess I should think about a lifeline. I started on 5" dpn and when I was worried about losing the end stitches I switched to the magic loop. 

A matching hat

 I started out with the Spin Me Round hat from Nonokitty and then did my own thing on the sides. 

One finished watermelon sweater!

  I embroidered seeds all the way around the yoke with perle cotton. Quite possibly that took me longer than knitting the yoke. There are some knitterly mistakes in this sweater and I learned some lessons for the future. The first mistake was the buttonhole spacing. There are way to many buttons on this little sweater. I wouldn't want to try and button a wee little one into this sweater. There is a black hole where yarnovers congregrate to make new lace knitters out of their minds. I hate seaming, even if it is minimal and unavoidable. Tonight, I'm going to cast on hat with leftover yarn. 

Amazing LACE project

 I joined the Amazing LACE and although I haven't been posting much, I started a project on Friday. It's the baby sweater from Elizabeth's Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac. I have stopped by the shop for technical assistance once. I've mostly figured stuff out on my own. I'm using addi turbos since there are no stitches requiring super pointy needles. I have inox on standby for a pointy needle emergency. The yarn is knitpicks shine in grass, cherry and green apple. The white is sinfonia from Hobby Lobby. It's slightly thinner than the shine, but it works as a nice transition from garter stitch to the stitch pattern. 

Critter Close-up

 These are from patterns sold by Patternworks. I bought them when I first started knitting and they were over felted. I finally found the right eyes to finish them. 

Finishing Day

 Every once in awhile I have finishing day. This is where I find a bunch of projects that just have a bit left and finish them. I hate finishing work, so I have a tendency to put it off.

I had wanted wiggly eye buttons for my critters for a long time. I found some great ones at JoAnn's and they were 50% off over the holiday weekend. I bought all they had of both styles. The ones on the fish and turtle are actually one button. I know the fish should have eyes on either side of his head but he had a felting mishap. His nose felted closed (it wasn't supposed to). He had to have abdominal surgery in order to be stuffed.

The bags are from Pursenalities (Vintage Bubble bag made out of Big Kureyon and Naturgarn) and Pursenalities Plus (Lagoon made out of naturgarn with an alternate style of closure. I still want to line the bags which will probably involve a trip back to JoAnn's.