Almost Back to Normal

August was such a busy month. We took 2 vacations. We were away for a total of 20 days! We returned from our 2nd vacation this Sunday. The vacation was fun. It had been over 5 years since we've been to Las Vegas, my daughter's first - and her first time on the plane! The 10 days went very quickly! We ate at all our favorite restaurants, some were as good as we remembered and others not. We stopped by Chinatown several times to buy my favorite drink, boba milk tea. While there, I purchased a gold necklace with a jade and gold dragon pendant.

We didn't spend much time on the strip. We took our daughter to Circus Circus once so she could see the jugglers and play some games and go on rides. Other than that, we took our daughter mostly to the park to play in the water sprinklers. It was a very family oriented vacation even though we were in Las Vegas!

I didn't get as much knitting done as I thought I would. I did finish the body on the Maple Street Cardigan. I am currently working on the 1st sleeve. However, I did learn some new stuff on another craft ~sewing! My brother-in-law's sister's mother (there's got to be a better way to say that), taught me some tricks in sewing. She help me sew up a top and skirt. (I did do a little of the sewing but because we were pressed for time, she did most of the sewing for me)! We went shopping for fabrics and pattern which was a lot of fun. She helped me to sew and I helped her with knitting. It was a good combination!

Here are some pics of my projects:

top:

skirt:

Maple Street Cardigan:

I was so inspired by Crochetgurl's ishbel http://crochetgurl.blogspot.com/ that I decided to make one too! I have been wanting to make a shawl for my mom (or me?) but up until now, I have not found a pattern I liked. So between working on my online class (which I started yesterday) and trying to finish up on my Maple Street Cardigan, I'll be working on my ishbel too!

Ishbel (what I have so far...):

Happy ( belated) 4th Birthday, Vacation and Knitting

I been so busy, I thought I'd take a little time to relax and write a short blog! I got home yesterday about 12:30pm from vacation. We had been on vacation for about 10 days so it was nice to be home!!! I was able to get some laundry done, dishes, grocery shopping, (some) unpacking, hanging up clothes, and getting Jasmine ready for her 1st day back to school today! I'm happy to report she had a good day at school!

Vacation was a bit stressful, especially toward the end. It always is stressful running around trying to spend as much time with ALL our families and friends. We had several get together for Jasmine's birthday and we even took her to a playland. She got to ride her first merry-go-round, which she loved!

My latest FO is the Bamboo Cable Top. I took the bamboo cable pattern from the "READY SET KNIT CABLES" book and made it into a sleeve-less top. I decided to make this into a v-neck and kept the 2 garter stitches around the neck line. The back was done all in garter stitches too. I'm a bit disappointed with my seaming though. It's noticeable but next time, I'll knit this in the round to eliminate that problem.

Here's a photo of my top:

Lace Hem Topping Shell

I usually don't blog this much but July has been a busy month! I seem to be on a roll with finishing my fast and easy knit projects! Talk about instant gratification!



I started the Lace Hem Topping (Shell) after I finished my vesty. The pattern is from the July, 2008 issue of Creative Knitting. I was looking for another easy tank top project. I decided to go with some worsted weight yarn in my stash. (I have since added to my stash and I will probably use some of new new yarn for one of my upcoming projects!)



I wasn't really motivated on this project but after starting and finishing the little lace vest, I decided to finish this. (I hate to have too many unfinished projects!) I wanted to make lots of modifications, such as changing the neckline and adding sleeves. I did modify the neckline to add a bit of the lace pattern. I even attempted to pick up stitches to add some sleeves but it looked too bulky. In the end, I decided to just leave out the sleeves and keep it as a sleeve less shell. It will be good for layering in cold weather to come!



I ended up really liking this project. It was fun "attempting" to make modifications and best of all, it was such a fast and easy knit. I watched several movies while knitting this shell. Here are some movies I watched! El Torino with Clint Eastwood (good movie though it's not something I'd normally rent. It ended up being a good movie after the first 30 minutes). The Watchmen, didn't really like it and finally, (part of ) Pride and Prejudice. I love that movie!


Here's a photo of my shell:

#100 Little Lace Vest and MORE Yarn!!!

My friend called yesterday and said that the LYS was having another great sale. Hubby said he'd watch our daughter while I went yarn shopping. I walked away with lots of new yarn and pattern book. It's an older pattern book called Designer's Choice book 8 by Elsebeth Lavold. I love her designs! Here's what I bought:


The yarn:



















The book:




















I finished my #100 Little Vest by Sweaterbabe. When I saw this little vest, I knew I wanted to make one. Hubby helped me pick out the color from my stash. He thought the vest would look best in a feminine color. I was considering making this vest in a purple or green but I decided on pink. This was knitted up on a size 9 needle using ONLY 2 skeins of Cascade 200 in flamingo.



I had spent all my free time and then some in the last 5? days knitting up this vest. After the first few rows, I was worried that the pattern may be too complicated. But, once the pattern was established it was easy to understand. I only had a couple of minor questions on the pattern but it worked it self out. It was overall a really good and thorough pattern. I enjoyed knitting it. I made very few modifications to the pattern. I knitted a little over 9 inches before starting the arm holes. (I probably could of added a few more inches still). To account for the extra length, I will be adding a 5th button.





Though this is a really cute pattern, I don't think it's a flattering fit on me. I think the photo makes it look "better" than what it really is. I'm taking into account that a different top would make a difference. This vest would look best on a bustier person with a long torso. Nonetheless, I'm thrilled to have completed this project so quickly.


Here's a few photos:














AND...more casual

Not so Sexy Vest

I'm going to try and write a quick blog this morning! It's already been a very busy morning. I'm trying to get the laundry done, clean house and make breakfast before we have company in about an hour! I better type fast!

Last night, 7 minutes to midnight I was able to complete my Sexy Vest by CanarySantuary. This was overall an easy pattern though I wasn't really sure if I had started the arm increase in the right spot! I hate that. Why am I pattern challenged sometimes?

I used 2 skein of cotton yarn in pink. I knew from the beginning I probably wouldn't have enough yarn to finish so that's why my vest is 2 toned. I'm rather pleased with how it turned out. I really like the 2 colors together. I used a size 5 needle for the vest and a size 4 for the arm/neck ribbing.

If I was to make this vest again in the future, I would add more length to the overall vest. I would also eliminate the arm increases, otherwise the arm area would of been waaay too tight. ( I did add a little over 2" making the arm area a perfect fit)!

I'm always happy to finish a knit project. I decided to call this vest a Not so Sexy Vest because with the colors I used, it looks more causal to me. Now, I'm off to cleaning & cooking....and of course dreaming of my next knit project! ;)

Yarn!!!!

I thought I would make a quick blog entry. My friend told me today about an awesome sale the LYS was having. Hubby baby sit while I ran into the LYS to browse the yarn. I'm happy to say that I walked away with a bunch of cotton yarn. I also bought some fingering weight yarn for a project I have in mind. I've been putting off making a big purchase through the Internet and I'm glad I did. My stash is pretty limited on cotton yarn so I'm glad that I was able to add some yarn to it!

The progress on my Sexy Vesty is going slowly. I'm on the armhole shaping/divide for the front & back. It's a fast and easy knit but I've been preoccupied with other stuff. Hopefully, tonight or tomorrow I'll be able to make more do more knitting on this.

As a final note, I like to thank all the wonderful people that read and add comments to my blog! I'm so thrilled to have you as my friends. I feel really guilty that I don't read/add comments as often as I like. I still have dial up (and hope that someday, DSL will be available here). I spend too much time on the computer WAITING for a page to upload. Sigh.! I really enjoy reading all your blogs and I'll try to keep up as much as possible! Thanks again :)

Lacy Ribbed Top

Yesterday I went to the farm with my friend, Carolyn to buy some fresh corn. Yum. There's nothing like sweet corn picked that day! With the corn we bought, Carolyn taught me how to make cream of corn. I didn't realize how much work that is. I can now proudly say that I can make cream of corn! I still have close to 50 ears left, so I'm be making some rounds today and giving corn away to friends!

I've been talking about running for the past week now. Yesterday, I finally went for my run! I had carbo load the night before (a big bowl of pasta). It was a good run, considering it was my first in a long time. I was able to run for about a mile and a half, which I did stop once to tie my shoe lace before going up the hill! I was pretty proud of myself.

I have not been doing any crocheting. I started the avalon top a while back but I have not picked it up since I finished the motifs. I don't enjoy crocheting as much as I do knitting. I have since started on the sexy vesty by CanarySantuary. It's an easy and fun knit. I'm enjoying it so far. I'll probably have to do something different for the neckline and armhole ribbing because I don't have enough yarn.

My latest FO is the Lacy Ribbed Top. When I first saw this top in the July 2009, Creative Knitting Magazine, I fell in love with the top. There are a few things I'd change about this top. The size of my yarn overs (p yo k vs. k yo p) and the noticeable line during the increases on the shirt and the sleeves [which is part of the design after futher examination]. I was hoping that I would be able to fix the different size holes of the yo by wrapping the yarn all the way around, making a very loose yo and blocking but everything that I tried failed. For the noticeable increases, I think in the future I would do 3 rows of straight K and P before continuing the P3 together, yo. I think this might make the holes on that particular row less noticeable, therefore making the line less noticeable too? Hum...

I used 3 skeins of the Caron Spa in coral for this top. The yarn has a nice sheen to it but it does tend to split easily. Overall, I do like the yarn and it's so affordable, so I can't really complain! :) I used a size 5 knitting needle to do the whole project. I thought I had changed to size 6 needle after the neckline but later realize it was a 5. No wonder it looked small. Fortunately, with a good blocking I was able to fix the sizing issue.

This was another good pattern that was easy to understand and knit!

Here's a photo of my top: