Look What I Got!!

After a somewhat agonizing morning at work, I was thrilled to find a package from my SP10 Pal when I stopped to get the mail. It came so fast, the envelope said it was mailed on Tuesday of this week.

This is the card that was inside. Very Cute!!!

I really want to learn how to knit socks so she sent me some DPNs and a sock pattern. Yahoooo!!!

And she also sent me some Paton’s Kroy Sock yarn. The colours are really gorgeous. I cannot wait to cast on.

I really want to thank my SP10 Pal. I want you to know how much I love the items you picked for me and how much I appreciate your generosity!!!

Kris 🙂

Where The Heck Are My Needles?

Last night it came to my attention that I am missing some of my knitting needles.  Yes this came to my attention because I was planning on starting another project (note the emphasis on starting – except for dishcloths there seems to be no finishing for me).  So I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I couldn’t find the needles I needed.

My first thought was to haul the kids in for questioning (they’ve been known to use them for swords in battle, cat toys, hair picks etc).   I mean I have the Denise knitting needles, the Option set from Knitpicks, and misc needles bought when I couldn’t find what I needed – so surely I should have been able to find a needle at least close to what I needed.  I decided not to question the little darlings – I decided to save myself the time I knew how that line of questioning would go.

9 year old – “Mom you know I would never tough your stuff”  – Of course this doesn’t explain who keeps taking my tweezers and writing with eyeliner.

13 year old – “Oh yeah Mom, your sweet, (turns out that this is not an endearment – who knew) it’s always me isn’t it”  Well maybe it’s not always him but it is him some of the time.

Actually this time they really were innocent.  I started going through a mental list of all my UFO’s.  It went something like this:

• 1.  Calmer sweater
• 2.  Dishcloth
• 3. “Blu” Jeans
• 4.  Bliss baby jacket
• 5.  EZ Baby Surprise
• 6.  Not 1, not 2, but 3 pairs of socks
• 7.  Stuffed Rabbit
• 8.  Mojo (more on this later)
• 9.  Arwen sweater
• 10. Gloves
• 11. Lace Scarf
• 12. Cabled Bag

I think I found my needles.

I did not cast on for my new project “Baby Bottoms” from Knitting Pure and Simple.  No not just because I had no needles, but because I am going to try really hard not to cast on another thing until I finish something (under the circumstances I can’t count dishcloths – the list is just to darn long).

Sorry for the lack of pics but putting the list together was shameful enough without gathering it all for a picture.

Karen

Parcels and Petunia

After I went to the post office yesterday morning to mail my two parcels – one for my Sp10 Pal and one for the Spring Cotton Swap I joined thru Swap Bot – I was talking to Karen and she said “did you take a picture of the parcels for the blog?” Ahhhh….no. Because mornings at our house are hectic to start with – the kids think that school starts whatever time THEY get there – the trip to the post office was really just the icing on the cake for a couple of reasons.

1. I was second in line at the post office. There was a nice couple ahead of me and I was not quite sure what their business was but it sure did take the post office lady some time to count the $600 in 5s and 10s that they gave her. Being nosy I wanted to stick around to find out but my little guy had other plans for me. He was trying to climb out of the cart so I took him in search of the only thing that will make him sit in a store – Smarties.

2. When the lady at the post office gave me the forms to fill out – one package was for the US and one went international – she said “don’t mess these up” Ahh ok, wrong thing to say to this over obsessive, anxiety ridden person. I now have this huge fear that the parcels are going to the wrong place.

3. The post office lady was very nice and I would have loved to have a long conversation with her about the recyclable grocery bag that I used to bring the parcels in but with a 2 year old throwing smarties and then screaming at the top of his lungs when I wouldn’t let him eat them of the floor there was only one thing I wanted…..the exit.

Ok now, where was I. Oh yeah, taking a picture of the parcels. No I forgot to take a picture so this will have to do I guess.

Hey, it’s all I got!!!! lol

I have been making a lot of progress on my Petunia Tote. I really want to get one project done before I start something new. My Mom was over on Saturday and I was showing her some of the things I was doing and she looked at me and said “How many things do you have started” lol! “Not as many as Karen” was my answer. Sorry Kare……..I was working on my Debbie Bliss Baby Blanket. Easy knitting, but I think it may have been too easy because I found myself drifting off to sleep while knitting. I think that must be a sign to work on something else. The blanket is coming along pretty good though. I have 30 out of 56 squares done. The only thing is, I definitely am going to need more yarn. The pattern calls for 5 balls of yarn but I am coming up short. Oh well, Kim and I are planning a little yarn store with a stop at an Italian restaurant for lunch trip next week. (Note to Karen: Take the day off, you deserve it. You know how good Koolini’s is….yummy!!) I am going to try and get as many of the other 26 squares done so that I can pick up the rest of my yarn that day. I am just so excited to get to the sewing of those 56 squares that I can hardly wait. NOT!! I am anxious to see the blanket done though. I am hoping that the colours I picked jive and don’t look too awful.

Here are three of the five colours I have picked. I also have a light grey and a cream colour. Not the traditional baby colours but I think they should look alright.

I have to take Ryan back to the doctor tomorrow. He was been feeling good but is still so congested. The doctor had said that he may need a second round of antibiotics so we shall see.

Hope everyone has a nice Thursday. Let’s keep praying for some NICE weather. Where is spring for pete’s sake?

Kris 🙂

I’ve Got Dischcloth Fever – Again!

I had dishcloth fever last summer. Kim and Kris both caught it from me. As a matter of fact I think the dishcloths are what got Kris knitting. I think the reason I am so into the dishcloths right now is because things have been a little stressful at work lately and when I get home I need some mindless knitting – dishcloth fever once again. The summer fever had me knitting lots of Ballband Dishcloths from Mason Dixon Knitting.

This fever had me looking for a dishcloth with a little less thinking – and here is what I came up with – Nubbin Dishcloth and Checkerboard Dishcloth. The Checkerboard is my favorite followed closely by the Nubbin. Here is a picture of my dishcloth stash.

Now although I love to make knitted dishcloths I don’t like to use them.  Nope that is not exactly correct I like to use knitted dishcloths – just not the ones I make – I can’t bring myself  to use them they seem too special.    I know I know I’m a weirdo.   My husband thought that we should replace our faded ones ( my mom made these) with some of my new ones. I set him straight fast – but it left him shaking his head – he really didn’t get it. I’m not totally selfish though – I do give some  away as gifts.  Of course now that we make our own my mom won’t pass any on – so I guess I may have to resort to using mine – unless of course that is the secret knitting Kim has been doing – a big bunch of dishcloths for your sister – huh Kim is that it?

Don’t forget to check out our contest.

Karen

Happy Easter!!!…

another Easter come and gone….and what miserable weather we had this year!!…cold and dreary…all day long….

I finished Havana’s (grandbaby) shrug in time for the big day though to wear with her Easter dress!!…Karen came over the night before Easter to sew it up for me…..as my sewing skills are seriously lacking…really seriously lacking….here’s some pics of Havana modelling..

the pattern is the Hug me Shrug by Sara Galley….the yarn is Sublime in vanilla.  I really liked working with this yarn…the softness of it really was uhhh..SUBLIME lol…!!…

for Easter all three of us sister’s and our families and our mom and dad headed off to Brunch…where we all proceeded to eat too much …then afterwards we went to Karen’s house to lay about and knit while the men watched hockey…..all in all it was a great day, too bad about the weather though as we usually have a Easter egg hunt outdoors but with Ryan just recovering from pneumonia and the weather etc…we put it on hold this year…

here’s some pics I took of our children at brunch..

Kristeen’s boy Ryan – who has recovered made a speedy recovery!

Kristeen’s girl Kaity in the black top, my grandbaby Havana in the middle with her shrug on lol – Karen’s girl Danielle on the other end….

Kristeen’s boy Brendan in the blue coat, my boy Max (aka. Bucky and Baby lol) in the middle and Karen’s boy Nick on the other end…can you tell just how thrilled they were to get there picture taken…I had to pay Karen’s boy a buck to go along with it…lol…

I’ll post in a couple of days a knitting project i’ve been working on…even the sisters don’t know what it is! I’ve kept it under wraps…wanted to see how it went first…lol…any ideas Karen or Kris?????…..lol..

Keep the comments coming!!..11 more days to go in the contest!….to everyone who has dropped by so far…HELLO!! lol….

Kim

Slim Pickings

Thank you for the comments for my son. I would have to say he is feeling much, much better since he is back to jumping on the couch. Not a fun think when the sisters and I are knitting on said couch. But when the need to jump arises, you just have to go for it. lol Here is a picture I took of Ryan on Tuesday. I thought it was cute because he has all his comfort things: his blankie, his soo soo (pacifier), his juice and his Yummy Yucky book. It is too darn cute when he reads that book to himself because everything is yucky to him.

We seem to have been put on a sweater recycling hiatus for a while. Our trip to the resale shop in Ann Arbor was not very successful. I think we got about four sweaters so a trip to Detroit will be coming up soon I would imagine.

Well, the family Easter Bunny has all his shopping done. Yahooo! The stores were crazy last night. CRAZY! I am glad I was alone so I could go in and get what I needed and get back out. Easter should be a relaxing day. Kim got us a reservation at a local restaurant for brunch. You know what that means Kim, the food better be good or you will never hear the end of it. Ha Ha! Then we are off to Karen’s for a Easter Egg hunt and what else…….knitting of course! I am currently knitting up little squares like a madman trying to get my Debbie Bliss Baby Blanket done. I have to get some of my WIPs done cause I feel guilty starting anything new. It shouldn’t take long though – the squares are 14 stitches across, done in garter stitch and they are 24 rows wide. Easy knitting, ahhhhh…..right up my alley!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!!! The perfect day to eat all the chocolate you want!!!

Kris 🙂

So much to tell….

Right off the bat I just want to say this, we did not consume all the junk food in this picture. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the Mike aritas. Kim and Karen polished them off!!!

Last Thursday Kim met me at work and we went to the yarn store that is a couple of blocks away. I had never been there and was very impressed with the amount of wool they had. There were shelves and shelves. I know, a knitters paradise!!! Kim was looking for some Sublime to make her grand-daughter a shrug for her Easter dress. I was able to find the Debbie Bliss Cotton DK I wanted to try. I have a pattern for some sachets that I wanted to make for my daughter. The colours are really gorgeous.

So now for the big trip. We spent the better part of Saturday just shopping and driving around. We didn’t really want to drive around that much but I am not the best navigator in the world and Kim refused to sit in the front because she didn’t want to have the pressure of reading the maps all on her! Thanks Kim!

As the sisters said the Yarn Harlot was delayed for a few hours but I was not complaining. It turned out to be very good knitting and relaxing time. Kim and Karen went back to the yarn store that was located not far from the library where Stephanie was going to be so I was more than happy to stay behind and knit. The Yarn Harlot was extremely funny and I really enjoyed myself. You have to give the woman credit. She had been up since 3 am, spent most of the day on airplanes, found her own way from the airport to the library and was still so nice and cheerful. She signed everyones books with a smile. What a wonderful woman. The three of us really had a blast!

Here is the Yarn Harlot in all her book signing glory!

I didn’t get anything for myself in the way of yarn. I know, I know, what was I thinking? I did get something for my SP10 Pal but I can’t show it, sorry!

Monday my two year old was not feeling well and Tuesday he was even worse. So off to the doctor’s we went. Turns out the poor little guy has pneumonia and is now on antibiotics and inhalers. Boy, I just hate when my kids get sick. He is doing better today thank goodness but his breathing is still laboured. We go back to the doctor tomorrow so hopefully there will be some improvement.

I joined a cotton swap thru Swap bot. The partners were handed out and I was lucky to actually be paired up with the hostess. I got some things when I was away so I will be mailing my package on Monday.

Anyways, hope everyone has an awesome last day of the week – short work week yahooooo!

Kris 🙂

P.S Keep leaving those comments for a chance to win the Yarn Harlot’s new book!! It really is awesome!

Fun was had by all!

Well as my sisters have so eloquently stated – we are back. The Yarn Harlot was fabulous. Even though we were sitting in the overflow (watching on a tv screen), and the poor Harlot was 2.5 hours late (I’m sure you’ve hear her sad story by now – poor Stephanie) – we absolutely enjoyed ourselves even more than we expected. And where else can you have a crowd of people, that have been told the main event would be 2 hours late, smile, sit back and patiently wait (while knitting). Seriously, knitters don’t mind waiting. Am I the only one I know who comes to the line up at the coffee shop in the a.m. who is actually happy – as they whip out their knitting.

So on to what treasures I acquired while we were away. First a brief shot of the gifts I picked up for my SP10 pal. This is just a brief glance to protect my identity in case she happens upon our blog : )

And of course I couldn’t go home without some goodies for myself. Here we have the Yarn Harlot book of course; some lovely Malabrigo yarn – such softness; and some Knitting Pure and Simple Patterns (I love these – worked top down!).

And here is my favorite purchase -these buttons handmade in South Africa

I am currently working on my baby sweater that I am making out of Rowan Calmer – a mix of a couple of sweaters I like – we’ll have to see how it turns out.

Well that’s all for now.

Karen

CONTEST!!!…

In celebration of our ‘three month anniversary’ coming up on April 20th we are having a contest…

DEADLINE – The contest closes at midnight on April 20th. The winner will be announced on Saturday, April 21st!

HOW TO ENTER -This is an easy one! lol..- Leave Comments!! For EVERY comment you leave you will have a ballot put into the draw – so if you leave 10 comments from now til the deadline – you will have 10 entries in the draw!!..So leave TONS of them – we love hearing from everyone! The contest (leaving comments) begin with this entry!… **Be sure to leave your email so we can get in touch with you!
**** this goes out to our SP10 pals – we want you three included so this is what we’ve come up with – for now on could you identify yourself like this – SP10/Kris – SP10/Kim – SP10/Karen….this way we know which one you are…and in order not to ruin the surprise of who you are – if one of you wins we will hang onto the prize until it is ‘reveal time’ lol…

Now onto the good part…

THE PRIZE

the Yarn Harlot’s new book!! – and it’s AUTOGRAPHED….

Good Luck to Everyone!!…

Knitting Goodies…

okay so now I’ll tell what I got on my trip in the way of Knitting Goodies!! lol…

I actually didn’t get too too much, but I love what I did get!!…

I got this awesome yarn…Kettle Dyed “Malabrigo”…..I love the ‘feel’ of this yarn!!  I got two skeins..I’m making the pattern below and then I’m going to make a matching hat!

Karen and I were standing in line at the yarn shop when we seen a display of this sweater all done up…needless to say we got out of the line to get the yarn and pattern!!….ONE SKEIN needed – does it get any better!!??? lol…Kris was back at the library holding our seats for the Yarn Harlot…BIG THANKS go out to our little sis for sacrificing the yarn store trip in order to secure our seats…Karen had won a prize at the yarn store and gave it to Kris and I gave her some buttons I bought and a pen…We luv ya!!!..

I love these buttons…they are made out of ceramic and they are soooo cute..!! I did have five but I gave one to Kris and Karen, they’re HUGE, noway could you put five of them on a child’s sweater!

and this was bought for my SP10 pal – I’m playing it safe just in case she has figured out who I am…don’t want to give away the surprise…but I will say…it’s YARN! lol…

that’s all I got….but it’s enough…I have plenty other projects on the needles…so I was a pretty good girl..lol….

okay..i’m outta here…..I’m going to write up our “CONTEST” blog entry…that’s right our very first CONTEST!!…we are so excited lol…!!….

Kim