Sunday, June 10, 2007

Summertime, and the living is easy.....

I love that song - great blues song. Find it on iTunes. You won't regret it

Summer has struck, all the signs are there. The temperature is rising. Racks of congratulatory cakes are out at Sam's Club. My allergies are still annoying. Plums not grown in South America are in the produce section. I'm not the only one wearing flip-flops. Children have that happy, "summer-break" look on their face. Parents have that "the kids are home for summer" look on their face. The surrounding hillsides are brown and looking ready to spontaneously combust. Oh, and we broke out the box fans.

As the end of the this month I celebrate yet another birthday, and the anniversary of something very special. I got my iPod last year for my birthday. Yes - my husband is amazing, and no - he has no brothers. What has changed in my life since this momentous occasion? Well, for one, I'm reading fewer books. I used to finish a book, on average, every 10 days. I think I have read 3-4 since last summer. Bad, very bad. Pod casts have replaced reading. Something else that has changed - I have been possessed by knitting and I have the stash to show for it. Who do I blame for this particular phenomenon? The sock yarn is the fault of Lime N Violet, aka, my crack dealers. These sirens of socky goodness turned me on to Liza Souza, The Loopy Ewe and Etsy to name just a few. There is the patron saint of knitting, Ms. Brenda Danye, that reestablished my faith is the rightness of knitting. Then there are the other pod casters out there that feed my knitting hunger. Thank you all. But, there is a dark side to this. My needlework has languished, hidden away and ignored like a red-headed step child. My scrap booking has had more attention, and that's not saying much.

In all things, a balance must be struck. I'll work on that. Soon.

So, this week wasn't a blow out. I didn't get that much done. I still am working on two pairs of socks, and I have another snuggle blanket in the works. I did finish three things though.

No. 1 - a seed stitch pillow cover which I have to sew up and stuff and no I don't have a picture of that yet since it really isn't done. (Now that is a bad sentence.) I used Lion Wool Ease in the color Wood. With the leftover's, I did No. 2.

No. 2 - a watchman's cap for the Ship's Project.

Ellen's Knit Hat

The pattern used was "Ellen's Knit Hat", which is a free pattern from Lion's website.

No. 3 - a square for Warm Up America

A Square

I am using Paton's Canadian for squares and snuggle blankets. I have way too much of this yarn, and figured this would be a good use for it. I am half way through another snuggle blanket and another square.

Last, but not least...

No. 4 - snuggle blanket for ARF.

Red Heart Snuggle Blanket

Made with one skein Red Heart Baby Soft in the color Key West. The finished size was 19.5" x 19.5" and was knit on size 6US needles ( I was nuts - it took for-ev-er). My charity basket is overflowing, and I need to ship stuff out this month.

I joined another blog this week - Save Cash! Use Your Stash! It's pretty cool. You calculate how much money you save by using your own stash to make something, instead of going out and buying more. The yarn I used for my completed projects this week came to $9.19. Not much, but it's a start.

I gave some attention to my Chevron scarf, which will need major blocking when it's done. I was 3/4ths of the way finished when I ripped it ALL out and started over with size 8US needles, instead of the recommended 5US. But, that's a story for when I am done. I am hoping this week.

I guess that's all for now. I'll talk with you soon!

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