Eeeeeeeeeee

I think the smile says it all!



Forecast is finished and I LOVE IT! The fit is perfect, thanks to a good blocking. Love how the buttons turned out. My only wish is that it were Fall and I could wear the thing. :)

I made many of the common alterations out there. 3 stitch bobble instead of 5 and started the sleeve ribbing at the elbow. Gives the sleeve a more fitted look, which I prefer. I made the body a little bit longer than called for, yet I still only used 10 buttons!





Miss Japel has a winner pattern here. I am finding that I love the top down method. It is so handy to try on as you go to ensure a good fit. Plus, there is no seaming to do at the end, which is perhaps my favorite thing about it.

Just started another one of her projects. Airy Wrap-Around Lace Sweater from Fitted Knits. Started right in, had about 6 inches done...tried it on and it was not big enough. So I ripped back and tried again. Fits much better, but I am a little sad about the lost knitting time. That was most of my day on Sunday!

No Need to Fret

It fits!




Another project that took me about 2 years to complete. This is my 3rd long term UFO that I have finished this year! Verrra nice. :)







Multi-Pattern Top from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2006
Made from Lion Brand Microspun


Sort of achieved gauge on a size 4 (this top was a one size fits all kind of deal). I left a bigger armhole opening than the pattern called for. Other than that, it is knit to pattern.


Love the feel of the microspun. Super soft and it has a nice stretch to it, without stretching out of shape.


This pattern had another first for me. I have never sewed buttons into a knitted item! Surprised I haven't come across that before.


One more project to finish by the week end. Forecast. Hehe - my slightly obsessive nature came in handy. Remember the button problem? Well we got out of work early today, so I trekked out to a third JoAnn's. And found buttons that looked liked the original! Yay! I hope to block the beast tonight and sew buttons on this weekend.

Getting Crafty!

So I went in search of additional buttons for Forecast. Visited another JoAnn's and found the same style. Brought them home...do you see the problem?

They look so different. The new ones are not quite as wide as the original ones and the coloring is slightly different. I am thinking that if I alternate them on the sweater one won't notice very much. Because I cannot find these anywhere else!!

Oooh, look at my new yarn. Joyce from elliebelly completed a trade with me on ravelry and this stuff is amazing. She hand dyes all the yarn. This is a 70% silk / 30% sea cell (a fiber made from seaweed). I cannot believe how amazingly soft this yarn is. You should definitely check her stuff out. Beautiful colors.

So I recently won a "major award" at work and got to choose a prize. Lookey!!

I have no idea how good of a machine it is, but it is better than what I have now...nothing! Very excited about this acquisition. I used to sew years ago when I was in 4-H. I just need to remember how to do everything. :)

The machine should help me to hem all those pants that need fixing. Plus make any neat things that strike my fancy. Woohoo!

Lovely Vacay

We just had a wonderful couple days off at the beach. We are experiencing some abnormally warm weather for Oregon in May and it just happened to coincide with our trip!

Lots of fun was had by all.

Digging:


Frolicking:


And jumping for sand dollars!


Of course there were some beautiful sunsets and night skies.






And the best part (for me) was tons of knitting time! Probably one of my favorite things about a relaxing vacation is the endless knitting time (and all the eating - fresh seafood yum!)

I am now thisclose to finishing two projects. I knit the collar and weaved in all ends for the Multi-Pattern Top. All it needs are buttons and armhole edging.


Knit the button bands and wove in all ends on Forecast. All it needs is a good blocking and buttons.


I even found buttons for both of them. (Forecast buttons are on the left).


I hope hope hope to finish these two projects this weekend. I only found 6 buttons at the store for Forecast. Will be in search of 4 more at other fabric stores this week.

Had a little package waiting for me when I got home. My cute Ravelry Veggie Bag. Love it and it will probably become my new bus bag.


Looking forward to another extended weekend coming up. I love 4 day work weeks. Best of all.....you can probably guess. Tons of knitting time!

Memesville

Laurie wants people to play, so I'm biting. :)

Here is what you do:

Use the 1st letter of your middle name, to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real places, names, things...nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person you took this from had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

1. Middle name letter: J
2. Famous artist/band/musician: Jamiroquai
3. 4 letter word: Jump
4. US State: Jersey
5. Boy name: James
6. Girl name: Jennifer
7. Animal: Jaguar
8. Something in the kitchen: Jar opener
9. Reason for being late: Just woke up!
10. Body part: Joint
11. Drink: Jamba Juice
12. Something you shout: Jack@$$
13. Something you eat: Jello
14. A movie you have seen: Juno

Feel free to have fun if you wish!

Earth Stripe Heaven

Ooooh am I in love with this project. The Earth Stripe Wrap is completed!! And it ranks right next to Lady Eleanor as one of my favorite projects EVER!







Turned out about 2 inches wider than the pattern and I needed a third ball of the Majestic colorway. I really enjoyed knitting this, KSH is one of my new favorite yarns. Kaffe Fassett is a genius with his color combinations.

I will highly be looking forward to fall/winter, because this is going to be heaven to wear!

Years ago when I was in high school, I learned how to knit again and took a class up at our local arts center. It was a lot of fun and the group consisted of women my grandmother's age who doted on me. Our teacher was an eccentric lady who raised parrots. Anyways, I started a project that I never finished and which has long been ripped out. The result is this:



I have no idea what it was, but I believe it is a wool blend. Dark gray with colorful specks in it. I really like it and thought it would be perfect for 28thirty. I have swatched and need to knit it on a size 7. I don't quite have guage, but moving to a 6 would make the fabric way too dense. I believe that I will make a size smaller and everything should be a-ok.

Also bought the pattern for Tree Jacket. I have some Queensland Kathmandu Aran that would be perfect. Haven't swatched it quite yet.

Do you notice something? I am using stashed yarns instead of buying new ones. Hooray!



Start the cumbersome work of blocking, cutting and attaching fringe to the Earth Stripe Wrap. Time consuming process, but I hope to finish this by the end of the weekend.



After my finishing success of Scott and Stripes and Webs, I pulled Medievil out of the far reaches of the knitting closet. I have started the armhole steeks. Maybe my husband will have a second sweater for this fall!



Made some major progress on the Multi-Pattern Top. Finished the main body knitting and have sewed most of it together. Unforunately, I don't think this thing is going to fit. The armholes feel a little tight and doesn't quite have the length that my torso needs. But I am going to finish seaming, knit the collar and attach some buttons. Final judgment will be reserved for the final fitting!

Knock Knock...

Who's there?

Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Just when I thought things couldn't get worse!

They visited our house yesterday and were informing us about something in our yard. They were aware that the previous owner had bought an ornamental version and they keep their eyes on such plants. What is it you ask?

Giant Hogweed

And it is apparently a public health hazard, a toxic plant that is very invasive. And the sap from it increases your sensitivity to the sun and uv rays. If it gets on your skin and you are exposed to the sun, it causes severe burning, blistering and black scars. If you get a little in your eye it can cause partial to permanent blindness.

Wow.

We first noticed this plant last spring. The thing creeped me out because it was ginormous. Gargantuum leaves, very thick stalks that were probably over 10 feet tall. I called it our "alien" plant, because that is what it looked like. We tried to research and figure out what it was.

I touched it, I broke the stalk open, I even lifted it to my face and smelled it. Boy was I lucky that I didn't get any of that poisonous sap on me! Or that puppy hasn't chomped on it.

We will promptly be removing it from our yard. Wearing the proper protective gear, of course.

The Ag lady was pleased by this. Apparently the previous owner refused to remove it because he liked how it looked. They routinely check on them, to make sure they don't become a problem in Oregon.

Sure am glad we know what it is now!

Oh and we just found out from the exterminator that the presence of those winged "swarmers", means the satellite nest has been in our house for at least 7-10 years. Vomit.

We are just having as much fun as we possibly can over here!! But it is all good because we will be getting rid of these dangerous things.

Trials and Tribulations

So we have been busy and in disarray for the past few weeks. We have been replacing our windows and exterior doors for nice, pretty new ones. Ones that actually insulate (instead of the horrid single pane aluminum junk we have).

Everything has been going really well and transformation is amazing! There have only been a few minor snags:


1. The original door hardware we received turned out to be crookedly forged together, so we had to replace that.

2. Our front door was perfectly square, but had been cut wrong because the panels on it were crooked.

3. And perhaps the biggest discovery happened after they installed the front door: Black things. Hideous black things that also had wings on them.


Yep, looks like we have carpenter ants. Ughh, it literally makes me want to vomit. Especially the winged ones. They are disgusting. And it makes me feel totally creeped out! So we are having a bug inspecter out tomorrow so that we can banish them. It was way better that we found them, rather then having them continue their nasty nesting.

The project is almost done, and I am so glad of that. Things are so dirty around here, it kinda bugs me. (Wow...no pun intended).


Knitting has been existing though. I finished knitting and eding the Earth Strip Wrap. Just need to block it and cut the million fringe ends.


I finally splurged and bought the La Lana Wools yarn kit for Lady Eleanor x2. Bought the original colorway, Faerie Queen. Love it, the yarn is beautiful. The entrelac pattern is fun to knit and I am zipping along.


We went to the Oregon Zoo with my parents this last weekend. None of us had been in years, and we had a lot of fun. They have made a lot of nice improvements. Here are some of the sites we took in!

Elephants / Polar Bear


Pretty bird / Duck


Colobus Monkey / Malayan Sun Bear