The Backs Done!

I finished the back of my green shell this afternoon and cast on for the front. Since only the first couple of inches is lace and the rest is stockinette stitch, it goes very fast. I'm really loving this yarn, the color and the pattern! I can't wait till it's done and I can wear it. We have a busy week ahead though, so not sure how much I'll be able to work on it.

I've also finished a few inches on the CeCe sweater but it'll go fast once I can work on it all the time. I love the yarn I'm using and think I'll wear it alot. Might make my next one in red too, like Bonne Marie is on her second one.

No pictures to show cause, well, it's still green and I'd rather wait and show it when it's either blocking or done. I do need to block my green vest I finished a few weeks ago and also the button bands and collar on my Lo Tech Sweater, but, I'm having too much fun with this green!

The Baby Girl is walking tonight (6 p.m. - 6 a.m.) for the Relay for Life with the band. BTB and I might go down at 11 tonight to hear her play in the Jazz Band, but I've been up since 5:30 so not too sure I'll be awake. I went to my grandkids school this morning for Muffins with Mom. Since Mom was working I filled in. They live an hour from me so I had to leave my house at 6:30 and let me tell you, that's EARLY for someone that doesn't usually get up till 7 or 7:30! Even Libby didn't budge when I got up! The muffin (blueberry) was good though, and it's always fun seeing those 3 smiling faces!

Just so it's not totally pictureless, here's Libby and Squirt lazing out on the deck in the sunshine.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Happy Knitting

This has been so much fun to knit! I love the color, I love the yarn and the pattern on the bottom was easy but just what I needed to kick start my knitting. This is Licorne by Phildar and is 100% cotton yarn. I've actually done about 12 inches so far and hope to have the front done by the weekend. If I can get the back done in the same amount of time, I should have a new shell by next weekend.

I've also started CeCe. I love this little thing. I live in Southeast Georgia, where a normal spring temperature is around 80 something, and summer temps are AWFUL! I'm also not a tiny little thing but love wearing as little as possible in the heat of the summer. With this cute little thing I can wear cammies under it but still feel *covered* and it hides the mid section a little, something that pops up when you hit your 40's!!!! I'm doing it in a light pink but already have plans (and the yarn from my stash since I'm doing the Yarn Focus Challenge) to do a second. I'm thinking when the Baby Girl sees it all done she'll ask for one too. She never asks for anything more than a few scarves I've made, so that would be nice.

I also have a sock on the needles that is at the heel turn, but I've been having too much fun with this bright green to pick it up this week. It'll get there - I like more than one thing going at a time cause I tend to get bored easy.

I FINALLY sewed my Low Tech sweater together this past weekend (only took 4 months) and will hopefully get the button bands and collar (I'm not doing a hood) done either this weekend or next. We have a busy few weeks coming up with the Baby Girl. She's got her Spring Concert, Band Banquet and Prom next week, graduation practice the following week and then graduation day the following week! We're having a big blowout for her graduation party! We're doing a Luau and I've ordered 5 dozen yellow rubber ducks, dressed in Hawaiian attire, to float in the pool. Got lots of shopping and planning to do so might not get to blogging much in the next few weeks.

Hope you're all enjoying spring and thanks to all of you who have left comments! I love hearing from you all and will get better about linking to you in my blog. I'm slowly figuring it all out.
Libby says "when it's hot, just take a nap, or, KNIT"

Happy Knitting!

My Latest Projects

Finally! I've been trying to do this for a couple of days but the laptop didn't want to upload my pictures for some reason. I think someone was messing with the settings on my camera. Okay, all fixed now, so here's my April Yarn purchases and a few new patterns.

I thought the picture came out better than this, but, I'm not an expert picture taker. I bought some Phildar Licorne in red for this vest. It's even the color called for in the pattern. The green (love that color green) is to make this vest, which I've started and am about 5" into. I loved doing the lace pattern on the bottom and now it's all st. st. to the shoulders. It's fun, easy and did I mention, LOVE the color, but the yarn, or maybe the needles, makes my hands sore so I can't work on it too long.

I also got 2 Ann Norling crocheted vest patterns and I'll use up some stash yarn for those sometime.

I used 2 different picture programs to put these in and I've figured something out. When I use the My Pictures from Windows XP it takes forever for Blogger to load them, it's a bigger picture and when I used my other program it was almost an instant upload and the pictures are smaller. Jeesh, I really need to spend some more time fiddling with this thing. I used to play on the computer all the time but the past few years I've, well, been knitting and not computer playing.

Anyway, this was my April Shopping Spree and I'm sure it'll keep me going for awhile. When I need a break from the constant st. st. and my hands get sore I've been working on finishing up some stuff. I also get to sit in my new sunroom and listen to this. That's the Baby Girl practicing for her concerto next week at the Band Spring Concert, then again for Solo and Ensamble on Saturday. She makes us so proud!

I shopped, I bought yarn, I'm feeling much better!

Okay, I used my yarn shopping day for the month of April today. It was SO much fun, almost more fun than any other time I've gone yarn shopping! It started off with me having to take the Baby Girl to a friends house at the beach and after dropping her off thinking my favorite LYS wasn't too far away, I could just go hang out there for a couple of hours till I had to come back and get the Baby Girl. Well, I had a grand time, she wasn't as busy as usual, we talked about things only women in their "mid-life woe's" could think to talk about and then I looked around. I found the perfect summertime project and was thinking I'd only buy the pattern and nothing else. Well, that's the problem with most of my stash, there's not enough to do one whole project and when I found the exact yarn the pattern called for, well, you know, I just had to have it. Then, I found another pattern for summer that I loved and they had that yarn too, and in my favorite color - RED! So, they came home with me, plus 2 other patterns for vests that I think I have enough stash for and some stitch markers. It felt so good and I'm excited about starting. I swatched tonight on the way to the college for the Baby Girls tutoring (clarinet) and tomorrow I'll cast on. We have been running around thru this whole spring break week and tomorrow we're finally staying home so I can knit (and do laundry, pay some bills and fill out high school graduation invitations). We've been prom dress shopping (no luck yet, she's fussy), had my hair done, taken the granddaughter to a drs. appt. and took myself and the baby girl to the drs. So, I'm ready for a day at home to play catch up, cast on for my new shell and spend the day enjoying my new sunroom! YEA ME!

I'll take pictures of my new aquisition tomorrow when the sun comes up and show you the pretty colors and the fun looking patterns. Till then, here's Libby getting one of her daily hugs from the Squirt. Those two have become the best of buds.


Happy Knitting.

Hitting the Nail on the Head!

First, I hope everyone had a nice Easter, or weekend, whichever. We had a great time and the kids had a blast collecting all the Easter eggs. There were 103 hidden and only 101 found so they spent a good part of the afternoon scouring the yard for those 2! Kept them busy and never did find them. BTB will find it one of these days while out mowing the lawn, just like he did last year.

This is what we had for dinner

BTB got the grill from the Easter Bunny and then we bought 10 yummy Rib Eye steaks to cook on it. What a great job. See the little side burner on the right? That's got shrimp in it. Even the little ones love their shrimp! We didn't eat just shrimp and steak though, we had all the trimmings.

I still haven't found anything that makes me want to cast on. I don't like this! I can't remember a time when I just wasn't interested in anything. I also seem to have a problem with too much yarn, not enough yarn for one particular project and not enough patterns. I can't remember when the last time was I knit something from one of the knitting magazines and I very seldom like the sweaters, etc. in the books I've bought. Where do you all get your patterns? I can't buy yarn, remember? I'm doing the Yarn Focus Challenge, but I think I can buy patterns. I need a good sourse for some good patterns. Oh, and, um, I don't have a small enough chest for alot of them either. Jeesh! It's not like I'm Dolly Pardon or anything!

Okay, about the nail on the head. I was reading my blogs tonight and when I got to Sandy's I was speechless. She has put into words what I haven't been able to and said it so well! I tried reading it to the Baby Girl but of course, only got to about the 3rd sentance and couldn't continue (I'm having a bit of teary eyed trouble too) so my Baby Boy (who is home this week) finished reading it for me. Sandy, my heart goes out to you!

Here's to all the high school seniors out there in the world, and especially to the "baby high school seniors" that are entering their parents into the Empty Nest Syndrome!

Happy Easter

Hope everyone has a nice weekend, and Easter if you celebrate it. We're having all the kids and grandkids over for the annual Easter Egg Hunt and dinner. I got BTB a new gas grill so we're going to try it out on Sunday.

I'm still finding myself in a knitting slump and just can't find anything that makes me really want to knit. I'm working on a plain sock with baby cables and a bag, but they're just simple things. I'm ready for something a little challenging but can't decide on what.

Here's a picture I took on the way home from the big city a few weeks ago. So, here's a sky shot for Sandy.







Libby wishes you all a great Easter/weekend. She really is a very happy pug, but, this picture makes her look sad. It was probably 30 seconds past her dinner time. She can tell time better than a clock!

My Weekend of Knitting

I never thought it would be a week before I posted again. I've thought of so many things to blog about since last time, but jeesh, time just gets away from me.

The Baby Girl and her Daddy had a great time on their trip to Disney World, although Dad wore the wrong shoes and came home with really sore feet. The Baby Girl marched in the parking lot of her school 2 days before she left and got blisters on her feet because she didn't bother wearing shoes. She came home with some sad looking feet after walking around Disney for 4 days, and marching down Main Street. So, like father like daughter, they had a blast, but had really sore feet. I'm glad they're home, I missed them. BTB doesn't travel much without me since we moved to the south and when he does I'm never sure what to do with myself. No-one to talk to is the worst part, I guess.

Okay, here's the results of my weekend of knitting;

These are the Embossed Leaves Socks. I showed the first one a week or so ago. I'm amazed, it only takes me about a week to make one sock. Oh, and this is only my second pair. They came out great but I was sure glad to finish them. I was going crossed eyed with the chart and the pattern. Sure glad I followed the rule and cast on for the second as soon as the first one was finished. I get tired of the same old pattern after sock #1.
pattern: Embossed Leaves Sock
yarn: Koigu, not sure of the color
Needles: size 2 Susan Bates Quicksilver

This is a pattern I just made up to use some yarn I've had forever. Not sure what the variegated yarn is called but it was lace weight and I would assume had some mohair in it because it was fuzzy. I also used Knit Picks lace weight yarn in lavender along with it. It's really soft, light and airy and very long. I made it for my friend Dawn, who loves scarves. She'll have to save this one for next fall/winter cause it's too dang hot around here to wear it now.


It's just a drop stitch pattern done on size 7 needles. It was fast and a good conversational knit.

(I really have to do better at saving the ball bands so I can write more info. If I saved every ball band from yarn I've used I would probably have to have BTB build me another closet, just for them.)


This is a smaller version of a shawl I fell in love with in Folk Shawls. I had 2 skeins of Mountain Colors (sock weight) and followed the pattern until I ran out of yarn. It's really soft and I think I'll use it alot over my shoulders during the colder weather. I've been working on this forever. It was my "car" knitting while waiting for the Baby Girl during marching band season. When she started driving herself a few months ago I figured I'd better take it out of the car or it would never get done. I finished this during my knitting weekend too.


Here's a close up of the stitch pattern. Very easy but beautiful with this yarn. I actually used 2 different colors but interchanged them every few rows so it's not really noticable at all.

I also finished my vest but haven't even blocked it yet so I'll show that on my next post. I'm glad to be done with it - it was mostly all stockinette stitch except the design down the right front.

So, now I have to decide what to do next. I've started another pair of socks but that's just for when I don't feel like thinking, and I started a bag for my oldest daughter with some Fantasy Naturale. It's 100% cotton and done on size 11 needles so I don't work on that for more than a few rows at a time. Not sure what I want to do next, but with the temperatures going into the 90's this weekend, sweaters aren't looking to promising!

I want to thank everyone for their comments. It sure makes a blogger's day when they find out someone actually reads their blog! I wanted to thank you each in an e-mail but have to figure that part out yet. But, thanks for reading!

Happy Knitting.

Added later: I've done SO well with my yarn challenge! Haven't bought a single strand of yarn since starting. It's a good thing needles and bags, etc. aren't part of it or I'd have failed. I hate wasting the 40% off coupons from Jo-ann's and needed some new sock needles. Also bought a small bag to hold all my knitting paraphenalia. But, no yarn!

4 Day Knitting Spree and Nothing to Knit!

Two tour buses and a Budget truck, Orlando bound. BTB and the Baby Girl headed out this morning for Disney World. This will be the last band trip for her and her Daddy and it couldn't have been more appropriate, cause those two think Disney World is the BEST place to go in the whole wide world. So, I have till Sunday to knit, knit and knit some more. No cleaning, no laundry, no cooking, the only thing I have to do is walk this:


Poor Libby, she's missing them already! She's hiding behind a pillow on my chaise lounge, and she'll be there off and on till they come home, just watching that door. She loves her Mom, but she hates when all her 'people' aren't home where they're supposed to be.

So, I'll be in my new sunroom, watching the Gold Finches out the window and trying to finish a sock, a vest and figuring out what to knit next. I have no clue what that'll be, nothing seems to jump out at me and say "knit me please", but, I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Happy Knitting!
side note! I just realized the date is off on my camera. I really did take these pictures this morning, around 6:30 a.m. on this date, 4-6-06. Guess I better fix that one, huh?

From the North to the South

Yarn Focus Challenge - Day 5

When I was a little girl, my grandmother took me to an old, old homestead in Rhode Island that belonged to a General. If I remember right, we took a picnic lunch and a blanket and ate on the beautiful green grass, right there at this home. I never paid attention to where we were, or whose house it was, just that it was fun being there with Grandma and eating a picnic lunch on the green grass and seeing the old fashioned ways they did things back then.


Jump about 42 years. Remember in my last blog I said we'd gone to River Street to walk around with the kids? Well, we also walked thru some of the squares and for the first time I decided to read some of the markers. I've been to River Street a gazillion times, but, it seems I never stopped to read any of the Historical Markers. Not sure why, but, Sunday I read one that caught my eye. Just in front of the Historical Marker was a statue that said this General was interred there. Imagine my surprise when it was the same General where Grandma and I had our picnic lunch. His name is Major General Nathaniel Greene and we had our picnic lunch at the Nathaniel Greene Homestead in Powtawmut, Rhode Island. The Statue on River Street is where he's buried, after being called to help General Washington in the American Revolution. I feel a small amount of kindred spririt with this General because, like me, he was born and raised in Rhode Island, then had to go to Georgia to help with the war and died here. I was born and raised in Rhode Island, and, will probably be buried here, in Georgia, too, some day. For those reading this that no longer live where they were born and raised, and where you always assumed you'd stay your whole life, it's kind of meloncholy to read about someone from your home state, buried in the state you moved to. Nathaniel Greene and I have something in common, and I was fascinated enough by him to come home and look him up on the computer and to see if it was actually the same Nathaniel Greene that I remembered from my picnic with Grandma. It was.



So, I'm not the only Rhode Islander that will end up in Georgia. I don't expect to be buried in the middle of a square in Historical Savannah, but, I'll end up in Georgia.

Side Note: I was talking to my Mom while writing this blog entry and she reminded me of something I hadn't thought about in years. My Great Grandmother (Nannie), my Grandmother and my Mother were all members of the Kathryn Littlefield Greene Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. I would have been the 4th generation if I had stayed in Rhode Island.

And, another note. This is so weird, haven't thought of this guys name (Nathaniel Greene) in decades and all in one day I hear or read things that I had not known or had forgotten. There was a little insert in our local paper today about our area. Written in it was a small paragraph that said that Ely Whitney, the inventor of the Cotton Gin, built his gin on Mulberry Plantation in Georgia. Guess who owned the plantation? Major General Nathaniel Greene! Wow! All that in one day.

Oh, and I'm still knitting, about ready to turn the heel on my last Embroidered Leaves Sock. BTB and the Baby Girl are going to Disney World with the band for the weekend so I get to stay home and pug sit, but, I'll have 3 days of uninterupted knitting so plan to start something new. Just not sure what yet.

Busy Weekend and a Sock

Friday night was Jazz Night at the Baby Girls school. It's really a fun night, with dining and dancing while the Jazz band plays on stage. Even candleobra's on each table, and of course we got to hear our Baby Girl playing the Saxaphone all evening. Oh, and BTB and I danced, lots, and it was F...U....N!!


Saturday we gathered up all the kids, grandkids and friends of the kids and grandkids and took them all to the big city to walk thru River Street and the squares. We had a great lunch and looked at all the venders stuff. It was First Weekend so there was lots of arts and crafts. I bought the girls and I a toe ring, all one piece, no pinching it to make it fit and I love mine! I think the girls like theirs too, although they like Sterling and I got gold.

Yesterday I spent the day washing windows and knitting and trying REALLY hard to figure out how to change things on my blog, but, as you can see, that didn't work. I gave up after a few hours. I just don't get the HTML stuff, so I put it away and knit.

I finished the first Embossed Leaves Sock on Thursday and started the second one last night. Still have a few inches on my vest, but it's getting there. I'm not sure if I'm tired of knitting (can't imagine that) or just tired of knitting the same ole stuff. I don't really feel like knitting lace, but I have a few projects I really want to start, so I'm just wasting time reading about knitting, what everyone else is knitting and trying to finish the second sock. There's a few other's I'd like to make, but I'm trying to make myself wait till these are finished. Hard!


Here's Squirt, the new kitten in our lives, thinking that the pool is her very large water bowl. Yes, she has fallen in, twice, but, it doesn't faze her at all. Wouldn't be surprised if we have a Squirt swimming with us when we're in there.


Happy Knitting!