It's Done and I'm Home!

My Camp Loopy Project  3 is done and I AM HOME from CAMP till next year.  This year's camp was much harder on me than past years.  Plus, this Kauni 8/2 yarn says it is a sport weight yarn, but it is really more of a fingering at 4.4 yards per gram.  My Clapotis (that reminds my friend of Cotton Candy) is 186.5 grams and that means 816 yards to satisfy the 800 yard requirement......I had to put the thing in a bowl to weigh it because it would not stay on the scale.

It is not blocked yet, but I will not be able to block it for a couple of days and I wanted to show you all that it was done!  Once I finished this....I could not wait to start on 2 things.  First, do you remember that awesome yarn Darlene got me and I blogged about here?  Well, both her and I want to cast on for Ink.  I swatched on like 6 sizes of needles yesterday.  I finally decided I would cast on with a US 1 (2.25 mm) and the main part would be done with a US 2 (2.75 mm)...this is TINY!  But it was the only way I could get gauge of 6.75 stitches per inch...yikes!  I did cast on, but I only have 4 rows done.....so it hardly existent (the turquoise yarn is my provisional cast on yarn):

I told you it was tiny.....but then I cast on Paige's sweater and I am in LOVE with this yarn.  It is by Quince & Co and it is called Tern...it is 25% silk and 75% wool!  It is heaven and I know Paige is going to love this sweater!  The pattern is called Breezy Cardigan.

I heard from a good friend this past weekend who was going to make a multi colored hitchhiker using a dividing bag from Awesome Grannie.  She hated the way it was turning out so she decided to make a Fall Breeze Shawl with Moda Dea yarn....here is her picture with her Baby Doll (age 2) and in the back is Brillo (age 10).....aren't they cute?  Thank you Paula H for sharing pics of your gorgeous knitting and cute as can be dogs with me (I am always harping her for pictures...I love pictures)!

I also finished those socks for my boyfriend....they are a little big, but I wanted them to be because they will go over another pair of socks.

I have a few stash enhancements....the day I left to the coast, Must Stash Yarns had an update and Darlene was able to snag 2 skeins of Sesame Street...one for me and one for her....Yahoo!!!!!  Thank you Darlene!

A friend of mine has been making stitch markers for a while and here are some new ones of hers....and she is going to make me some marked with 'A', 'B', 'C' for the Ink Cardigan.  I love these...they are perfect!

I also broke down and decided I needed a pair of reading glasses.  When trying to count how many stitches I had cast on for Hitofude (black yarn), I borrowed Darlene's glasses and they really helped so I got a pair of 1.0 strength cheaters/readers....I got them from Miss Babs....I think they are super cute....I also got a necklace to match them and then I can just hang the glasses off my necklace......

Well, I think that is about all I have.....After I blogged last week, I got to see Antonio....and he is supposed to be coming over again tonight....I am super excited!  Plus, Celeste's had her first day of school last week.....and I get to babysit her and her sister the weekend of the 12th.....I am pretty excited!

Here was Celeste on her first day of school...I always took a picture of my kids in front of our tree on their first day of school so I was sooo happy to Celeste in front of her tree for her first day!

Since today was the first official day of larger school disctrict's school....I thought I should let you know that my knitting is also educational.....it was pointed out to me by my friends that this might be me:

Happy Happy Happy Knitting everyone!  Have a great week!

I Love Vacation!

I had my mini vacation this past weekend (just a 3 day weekend) and we went to Copano bay....it was awesome....here was my first knitting view

Then we went out to eat......I love Shrimp Brochette!

I had worked on my Clapotis a little on the drive down there

And I was going to work on it some more when.....BAMB!!!!  Robert caught a fish....a 19" black drum.  Robert is not my son or Jaime's, but he is kind of adopted by both of us...both of our kids know him and I just love him to death....he is a great kid (who turned 21 this past Thursday)!!  Happy Birthday Robert!

So....I did some more knitting.....and thankfully on Wednesday night I pre-made 2 pans of lasagne....so while they boys were inhaling this

I was enjoying Copano Bay

For those that do not know....Copano Bay is by Rockport.....here is a red pin dot to show where I was:

Before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye to Rockport and head back to reality

Thankfully, reality had a nice surprise waiting for me at home.....some yarn!

Paige wants 2 cardigans for winter....this will be the first.  She decided on "Breezy Cardigan"....and I will use this Quince & Co. Tern Yarn in the Barnacle colorway (because Paige wanted one just like the picture).

So I have it ready to cast on...but have not cast on yet:

While in Copano Bay/Rockport....I did get some major progress done on Jaime's Socks...One heel turned, one almost turned and just 2 legs/cuffs to do and I am finished!

My Clapotis is also growing...I am more than 1/2 way now:

Well, that is all that I have for knitting....I hope to be almost done with my clapotis the next time I talk to you guys....keep your fingers crossed for me.

I have a friend, Jill, who has a blog and is always putting some great recipes on it.....I tried one last week that was awesome.  Her blog is located here and the recipe I tried is called Enchillada Cube Steak...Jaime and I really liked it but I think next time I will try with a different steak cut...I like cube steak, but during the week, I do not have a lot of time to let it cook longer to get more tender...but it was yummy!

I leave you with a picture of Paige and Antonio and then with just Antonio....he came over to visit me (I miss him terribly) and he loves to wear grandpa's hat (and looks darn cute in it too!)

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!  I hope you all have a great week!

Vacation Brain!

Hi everyone!  I have vacation brain......we are going to Copano Bay this coming weekend and I cannot wait!  One last mini vacation before school starts!  Here is a view from the last time we went to Copano Bay...it will be pretty warm this weekend (100 degrees plus), but have no fear, I will have a cold beverage near by!

I have been making a little bit of progress towards my organization of my yarn stuff into a nice yarn room!  Here are a few piles of 'stuff':

And here it is starting to be put away.......just the start....I still have another set of shelves to put together.....

Yes, those are all WIP's hanging from that shelving unit and that is not even all of them....there are a few more that need to be hung.......wow!

So what have I been knitting (to try do decrease some of those wips)?  My Camp Loopy Project #3.....it is called Clapotis.  The original pattern calls for Aran weight yarn, and this yarn is called Kauni and it is considered sport weight (but to me it feels like fingering).....the original pattern also calls for 13 center/straight repeats.  I thought since I was doing it with a thinner yarn, I may need to double the repeats to 26.....I was wrong....I need to almost quadruple it in order to get 800 yards (camp requirement), so I will be doing 47 center repeats....Here it is at just 16 repeats done....just about 1/3 of the way.

I am enjoying the pattern, but it is getting a bit boring....the changing of the yarn color is keeping my attention......then, there is a new cast on....many of you have heard me talk about my bff, Darlene aka AwesomeGrannie, well I think I have come to the conclusion that she has a worse case of startitis than I do.  She started The Tan House Brook Shawl (THBS) and said I have to start it with her....it is a gorgeous pattern and I had a perfect skein of yarn for it so who am I to say no?

Remember last week when I was telling you how a friend of mine, Paula H, scored a BagsByAwesomeGrannie bag with a divider in it....well I did to...this Hungry Caterpillar Bag that I am using for my Tan House Brook Shawl has a divider in.  I love the Hungry Caterpillar story and used to read it to my kids all the time...now I read it to my grandkids.

Speaking of Darlene.....she also has a new wine bag about to hit her shop.  You all know what a wine lover I am......and I love this bag set (you all know you will want one)!

The two bags above are my newest stash enhancements.....and I have another enhancement.....the Hiya Hiya Patterns KAL group did a SWAP.....I got these lovely pearl stitch markers, a stitch marker bracelet holder, a yarn bra, cascade heritage yarn sample, and some gorgeous note cards.....in return, I gave the SWAP hostess 2 skeins of sock yarn.....this was the first time doing a swap, so the group is still working through all the rules, etc......but it was a fun swap to do.

My list knitting discussion has to do with my daughter....she sent me a text over the weekend and she saw a lady at a coffee shop and loved her cardigan.  In this picture, there is not much of the cardigan to see....it just looks like a plain square type top.  Paige said it was a little fitted in the waist and it did have a belt/tie.....I asked her what color she wanted and she said that after I find a pattern, we can go to a yarn store together to pick out some yarn.....how fun......so I will be searching for a pattern like this....you let me know if you find one and place it in the comments!

That is all I have this week....I hope to have more next week after a weekend fun of knitting...I hope to get knit brain!

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!