Memorial Day Weekend

How was your Memorial Day Weekend?  I hope everyone had a fantastic Memorial Day and I want to say 'Thanks' to all the men an women out there that server for our country!

Knitting.....do you remember last week when I said I 'almost' had a grand slam?  Well, I finished those black rainbow socks Monday evening.  I love them!

I got a lot of knitting done on my Hiya Hiya KAL socks...this is also in the Dachshund colorway and I friend of mine asked me if there is purple in the sock yarn too (like the purple in the pashmina I got for Camp Loopy)....and there is, it may just be a little hard to see.  My boyfriend says it looks like I spilled bleach on the sock on the left....MEN!  sheesh!

I also worked on my 'Your Beautiful' shawl....I am only about 7.21% done (yes, you know I have a spreadsheet on this)....and I am enjoying it.

Well, I think that is all I 'hand' knitted on.......but I do have a couple of knitting machines.  I have a large one that I have no clue how to use, and I have a small one like for children to use and make scarves and hats and stuff.

I pulled out one of them this weekend to knit a blank!

Why am I knitting a blank you ask?  Well, some of my SNB friends have been dyeing their own yarn...so a few ladies were getting together at one ladies house for us to dye yarn.  I wish I would have taken more pictures of 'the process', but I had gloves on my hands and microwaves to watch time on and niddy noddies to wind yarn on.......  I dyed 2 yarns....a blank and a 'cake' of yarn.  The blank I knit to be a gradient from black to silver to orange (of course you knew orange would be in there)....it was called tangelo!

There is the blank:

Here is the yarn after niddy noddy:

and here is the hank

Then, I died a cake of yarn....it was a loose cake and I wanted a chocolate brown on the outside and an orange on the inside....I did get some brown into my orange, but I am still in love with it.  I really wish I would have taken a picture of the cake when it was being dyed, but oh well......

Then, there was a lady there that had a knitted blank that she wanted to go from light color (almost all white) to a slowly darker 'rose' color....when this was wet and she was offering it to anyone, it looked a little orangeish...but I can see now it is mostly all dusty pinkish....but I still like it...she was unhappy with it, I thought it was pretty and I just traded her some bare yarn because I did not want it to just go to waste......ha, ha!

Hmmmmmmm, what else did I do this past week.....Oh, I tried to crochet a hat as extra credit for Loopy Academy.  This hat is way bigger than I thought it would be, but I just need to do one row of single crochets and make the bow and it is done.

A couple of weeks ago I showed you some cross stitch patterns I had bought (half way down).  They were of Shaun the Sheep.  Well, out of all 4 there was one on 6 ct white aida cloth (that means 6 stitches per inch).  So, since I have not cross stitched in forever, I thought I would start with something quick and easy.....I am not done, but I have gotten a lot done.  The other 3 cross stitch sets I got are 14 ct white aida cloth, so, smaller squares!  Here is the first one:

I had also been listening to some of the older Suburban Stitcher Podcasts.....I think Dianne used to be a pretty big cross stitcher before she started knitting....anyway, on an episode early this year she was showing a 'cross stitch holder' that her mom had made and she was going to try to make some and put them in her shop.  Well, I did not see any in her shop, but I contacted her and she had a prototype to sell me...it was with 'geek' fabric and it was orange.....I loved the fabric (reminds me of The Big Bang Theory).....and here it is....it will hold an 11x11 QSnap, and I only had sizes 6x6 and 8x8, so I ordered an 11x11.  I hope it is here soon.

Oh....I almost forgot....I won a project bag and yarn on Instagram!  Yahoo!  She is going to mail it till late next week because she knows I am about to go out of town for the retreat.  Her name is Jennifer and she has an etsy shop called The Ultimate Bag Lady and she paired up with Texas Dyed Wool....I cannot wait to get this......

Well, that is really all I have.....now.....this coming weekend is the Knitting Retreat at my sister's lake house.  Here are some pictures from last year...I really look forward to this weekend every year.  I cannot wait for Friday to get here!  My sister got a new dock/deck built and I cannot wait to see it.


Oh, and Darlene brought me a Turtle Made spindle.....so, I may be spinning at the lake this weekend too!  Thank you Darlene!!!

Have a great week!

Driver Golf Club Recipe

Now, my friend, AlwaysAlice, is the one who helped me with this pattern...this is not MY pattern, but I am going to list the generic 'recipe' here just in case you want to make your dad (or whomever) a 'driver' golf club cover.  I put 'driver' in there because I know Alice has been making her hubby other golf club covers and they are each a little different.  She also puts a different number of stripes in the stockinette part to mean something different.  You can stripe or not stripe or change up anyway you like.

Here is her recipe:

She used size US 6 and size US 8 and using smaller needle she cast on 56, joined in round and worked a 2x2 rib for 11-12 inches.  She recommend I try 52 stitches, so I did.  My gauge was about 22 stitches for 4" in stockinette.

Using smaller needle, I cast on 52 stitches, joined in the round, then knit in a 2x2 rib for about 11-12 inches.

Then, switching to larger needles:

If you cast on 52 do this:

Knit to 3 1/2"

decrease round:  (knit 11, k2tog) repeat () one entire round = 48 stitches

Now knit to 4" and do the same decreases as below, starting at the **.

If you cast on 56 do this:

Knit to 4 inches, then do the following decrease:

(knit 6, k2tog)  repeat () all around

knit one round

**(k5, k2tog) repeat () all around

knit one round

(k4, k2tog) repeat () all around

knit one round

(k3, k2tog) repeat () all around

knit one round

(k2, k2tog) repeat () all around

knit one round

(k2tog) repeat () all around

Cut long tail, run yarn thru last 6 stitches, weave in ends and add Pom Pom (I used this clover pom pom maker),

Thank You Alice, I think my dad will love it!

Almost a Grand Slam!

Hello everyone!  I hope everybody had a great week!  I did!  I got lots of knitting time.  My bf, Jaime, had to go to Burleson (outside Ft Worth) to look at a truck that his friend might buy for a business venture they are doing....so I got to tag along and knit the whole way there, and the whole way back....it was truly Knitting Knirvana!

So, I almost have a grand slam.....I did a triple Play back in October with this post...so I figured a grand slam would be 4 FO's....well, I only got 3 FO's that I did, but the last one is soooooo close, I am calling it an "Almost Grand Slam"

Prior to the trip, I finished my Ves (FO #1)......Yahoo!  I love this shawl!

And Blocking:

I also worked a little on my Vine socks for a Hiya Hiya KAL....this is Madeline Tosh Light Twist Yarn in the Dachsund colorway....I LOVE this color...and I love all Madeline Tosh yarn!

About a month ago, I purchased some sock yarn from Canada....along with this yarn is option to have the yarn hand knit into a pair of socks....so I got that option for two skeins of yarn.  The shop is on etsy and it is called Yarn Enabler....if you buy one of her skeins of yarn...for less than $13.00, you can have it knit into a pair of socks.....that is CHEAP!  One is called Flamingo and it is an orange-ish color with a touch of black.  The second yarn colorway I got is called "Not your Mother's Sock Monkey" and it stripes like a sock monkey.  I got 2 skeins of the sock monkey one and had one knit into a pair of socks for me...with the other skein, I think I will knit a pair of socks for Antonio....then we can match!

On the trip there and back, I started and finished a golf club 'driver' cover for my dad...this is my striped item for Loopy Academy (FO #2)...I had to play around with the pom pom's a bit....and had two sorry starts before the final pom pom:

I will post the pattern recipe in a new post.

And, I finished my Pin Striped Socks for Loopy Academy...this is my slipped stitch project (FO#3):

And, I am sooooooo close to finishing my rainbow socks....but not quite there...I only have about 3 more rainbow stripes and I will be done....so I guess that makes it a HO.....anyway, that is my 'Almost Grand Slam':

My last knitting item......you know those vine socks I am knitting (second thing in this post) and I told you how much I am loving the Dachshund colorway.....well, I love it so much that I changed my Camp Loopy Yarn.  I was going to use Malabrigo Arroyo in the Chispas colorway (from last week's post, toward the end)....but I love this Dachshund so much, I had to change and ordered it in the Pashmina base last Friday.....it came in today already.....it is gorgeous and I cannot wait for camp to start!

My flowers from Mother's Day have Bloomed Beautifully!

I got to hang out with Antonio a little bit....He wanted a Captain America Costume...this is size 6 (remember, Antonio is 3)...and it almost fits him....

Lastly, on Sunday, I went to my step son's house to have dinner with his family, and Paige and Antonio.....Here are some pictures of the kiddos:

Happy Happy Knitting!