Been awhile... BUT, I've been too busy knitting!

I know its been a while since I posted anything on my blog... yikes! Its been 4 months! Wow... I must say the last few months have simply flown by! I've finished several classes this spring and projects are coming along nicely. My favorite project right now is my Clapotis:

Its a super fun and fast knit... I will definitely be making some of these for Christmas presents!

My second sweater is all finished and I love it even more than the first one! I did make a super silly mistake when finishing the second sleeve... I made it a one by one rib instead of a two by two rib like the other sleeve. Its very hard to see since its short sleeves that end up at the elbow and the fabric is so dark... so I've decided to leave it... its a good conversation piece... the moral of this story is: Don't work on anything you have to think about when you're on serious cold medication!!!

This is the coolest project ever! Its a hat you can wear as a boggin, or as a neckwarmer or you can leave the draw string open in the back and wear it as a slouchy hat with your long hair hanging out of it! My only complaint is that I didn't find this pattern until the end of Winter!

Bella's mittens are all done! I learned how to do cables using this project. They are super easy to do and look really impressive! These are going to be a Christmas gift for someone special! ;)
I also finished knitting a Shawl Collar Vest - Ravinelli for my mother-in-law and finished a scarf or two.... I have a pair of socks about a third of the way done, my Clapotis is making fast progress and I think its more than 2/3 of the way finished. This weekend I started another sweater for myself since I decided I need a spring sweater (this one is a cotton acrylic blend), and Aiden's Wonderful Wallaby sweater is started.
So.... I have been too busy knitting to work on my blog!!

Happy New Year!

The end of last year has gone by too fast! With all the holiday knitting and finding time to get together with friends and family the month of December just flew by!
I did manage to finish my Christmas knitting...

I finished Granny's double day flower scarf... and a bunch of socks...

I must have been a very good girl this year, because Santa was very good to me and my family!

Happy New Year!!

Frogged Socks

Here are Aiden's socks I worked on this weekend. I was knitting them toe-up and had the foot, gusset and heel turn all finished. Then I made a big mistake. I mean a stupid ginormous mistake. I talked while setting my markers for the heel flap and failed to pay attention as I kept on knitting a CROOKED heel flap!! When I finally did notice I frogged back, but I had cleaned out my knitting bag and only had my #2 needles with me. You know the ones I was knitting the socks with... I couldn't get the stitches picked back up!!!! So... after a weekend of knitting Aiden's adorable little socks... I FROGGED them COMPLETELY!! ARGH!!!!!!!!!

In other news...

I knit up a cute little hat for my niece's doll and am now working on a cute poncho to go with it. They are quick and easy projects. I plan to knit up a sweater as well, which I'm going to learn steeking on to turn it into a cardigan.

and ohhh...

I got BonJovi tickets for April!! WooHoo!!

...which ALMOST makes up for the frogged socks.... almost.

Tattoos and Socks

I finally got my knitting tattoo! Bryan (Tattoo's by Bryan in Harriman, TN) incorporated my three frogs to sit on a hank of yarn which is unraveling and partially rolled into a ball of yarn with needles in it. I love it! I had planned on color, but after 2 1/2 hours I couldn't sit anymore. Besides, I am liking the color of the frogs in the black and white. I'm going to just live with it a while before I decide if I want color or not.

In knitting news... I finished my Noro socks and am in love with them. They did turn out a bit big, so they will be a Christmas present. I have enough yarn to knit myself another pair after the Christmas knitting madness is over! As you can see they're fraternal socks... all the more fun!

My sister came to visit this weekend and we had out first ever sisterly girls-night-out...

I carved my first pumpkin...ever!

On Sunday I carved my first pumpkin ever. It was a family activity and we had a lot of fun. Aiden picked out the stencil... so we carved a skull. Aiden was really grossed out by the pumpin "guts" and wouldn't help clean it out, but he was all about trying to help cut on it!

Not about knitting...but about life...

Its been a week I don't want to have to repeat any time soon.

My sister's ex-husband passed away. He had pulmonary hypo-tension and passed away at age 29 leaving two little boys behind. My nephews are almost 7 and 8 years old. The receiving of friends and service last night were a nightmare. I feel so bad for the boys. My sister broke down badly a couple of times. I was proud of her though, she was strong for the boys and mostly held it together. She's only 24. She has gone through so much in her young life. Even though I disagree with a lot of the choices she makes, I'm very proud of her.

Magic Loop

I had my first sock class this week and must say I've already learned a bunch! Dawn is a very good teacher! We're using the Crazy toes and heels book by Mary Ann Beattie (Queen Kahuna). We chose the fan toe and cast on. Now this is my 3rd pair of socks and so far I like this toe best. I'm using Noro sock yarn (yummy) and can't wait to wear these socks!

I decided to try magic loop and cast on both socks... so the bad part is that instead of 5 inches of sock for the next class I have to knit 10... for both socks... this is also a good thing because my socks will be finished faster and I won't have 2nd sock shock syndrome! I'm getting the hang of magic loop and am now wondering why anyone would ever knit with dpns if they don't have to?