Oh, Glorious Completion

Today I finished a longies / kimono set I've been working on for awhile. It seems to have taken ages to get it done, not because it was a huge project or because it was particularly difficult.

I got the longies done, no problem. Didn't take too long and were fun to knit because the yarn is *gorgeous*.

Adorabubble Britches, size 2T in Mosaic Moon BFL

Then I went to TX to visit my hubby (which I may not have told you about). We (my two children and I) drove from Minnesota to San Angelo, TX to visit my husband who is training there. Well, I didn't bring much knitting along. I figured I was going to have more than 2 full days in the car and 2-1/2 days to see him.

Probably wouldn't knit much. Then... a gracious friend of mine who just moved near Dallas offerred to let us stay with her for the week so we could see my husband again the next weekend. After 25 hours in the car, it seemed like it might be worth it to stay the extra week. The problem? (As far as knitting goes) I didn't bring the right size needles with me for this project. :( Yeah, I finished up another small one and worked on another large one, but I couldn't get started on this kimono!

Baby Sachiko Kimono Sweater in Spotz Golden Yellow with Mosaic Moon Trim

So I got home, got settled back in (a little) and got working on this. It took a little longer than I had hoped, but I got it done in less than a week. I modified the pattern slightly with some intarsia-like trim on it to incorporate more of the variegated colorway. All in all it's nearly perfect. The only thing I think I'd change is instead of doing the I-cords I would maybe do a twisted string like I usually do for the drawstring waist of longies. It would've been faster and perhaps tied the two (pun not intended, but funny none-the-less) together a little more. But either way I'm more than thrilled with the result.

I finished the last I-cord after 4:30 this afternoon, stuffed it in an envelope, and ran off to the post office just in time. Cristi, the recipient, has been incredibly patient while I've dealt with pregnancy and long trips to postpone her outcome. I hope she is pleased with it (and can use the little *extra* I included for her patience). She sent me some yarn she dyed up to knit for myself and I cant wait to decide on what to make with it. She has some great colorways, I'll be sure to show them when I get them photographed and/or knitted up. Thanks Cristi! I hope you enjoy!

Still Around, and Still Knitting

I realize it's been awhile... again. We had a nice trip to KY to visit my husband, and an even better trip to MO to visit him while he's waiting for a physical. Here's a picture of us in KY walking to dinner:

And another one in MO at a splash pad we found a few miles from our hotel:

Both were good trips, but far too short.

In the knitting world, I have been knitting. I have a sweater for a friend's daughter (size 8) coming along, I'll have to post pictures of it. I also just *finally* finished this custom:

It has been done for ages, except the duplicate stitch on the butt. I love how they turned out, and I hope the mom loves them as much.

I got some yarn in the mail today for a couple of Etsy sweaters, I'll post those at they get rolling.

Some Finished Projects

I have promised to post pictures of a few things here lately and have fallen short, so for this late night post I'll give you the gory details of a few projects I've completed lately.

First off is the first of two pairs of longies I made for a trade. These are knit in Purewool's "Chocolate" colorway and are a newborn size:

These are for the same trade but are a 6 mos size. These are the ones I was having major creative block for. Once I figured out what I was doing it went pretty well. I think they turned out pretty cute:

And this is the felted purse I made for a friend. I mailed it to her and she loves it.

Now she wants one in summer colors but isn't sure exactly what she wants. I was thinking maybe blue or green with some sewed on felted flowers. That would be fun and summer-y.

Dang, I should go to bed. I just got home with the kids from hanging out at a friend's house. Dh is working overnight tonight but he's planning on working on the house tomorrow. So he'll be up making noise probably earlier than I'd like, plus I'll have to make the guys food (suppose I should "pay" them SOMETHING for their free labor). Man, it's cold in here. It's only 37F out but we keep our house cool to save on the heating bill, especially at night. Now I'm rambling. That's what I do when I'm tired. :)

Finally Ready... I Think.

We are having a big stocking at Serenity Tree tomorrow for "Cyber Monday". We will be having random listings all day and are having a bit of a "Treasure Hunt" as well. It should be fun.

Anyway, my husband was working on the addition this weekend and installed a door so he had to move the phone line and we didn't have internet for a few days. It was fine, except for this big stocking tomorrow. So I have spent the last couple hours working, but I think I'm finally ready. I have a bunch of stuff up, and a couple I wish I would've had time to finish. But I figure I can use those for the next stocking in 2 weeks.

Included in my "not quite done" list are my Tweets. I will have to get some pictures uploaded tomorrow. I made a cardinal and it even has the crest on it's head. When I showed my husband he even said it was cute, which is saying a lot since I never get a reaction out of him on the things I make. So I'm pleased. I have to put the beak on the yellow bird as well so they're maybe not ready yet, but I was really hoping to get them listed tomorrow. Ah well.

Oh, but I did get my Midnight Sky Longies finished, they turned out really great, I'm really pleased.

I was also hoping to have a goldfish done, but that isn't going to happen either. I got a good part of the tail done and then decided to rip out and do it a little differently. So hopefully I should have a good start on the next stocking. If only my washcloths were done... :) Just 11 to go, minus any my sister completed for me. I *heart* my sister.

Hats and a Sweater Shaver Workout

I started these hats last weekend and had a heck of a time getting the small one finished. I knit the adult one and my mom said it looked too short so I ripped back the crown and tried again. Then I knit a child sized hat and ran out of yarn. So I ripped out to make an infant hat. I knit that, ran out of yarn, reknit, ran out of yarn, reknit... you get the idea. I must have reknit the top of that infant hat a half dozen times before I got it. But alas, here you are...

They turned out really pretty. Susan from knits 'N bits spun the yarn, it's a superwash Merino wool and is soooooo beautiful. It reminded me of berries. I'd knit and the ball would look like a blueberry field, knit some more and the ball looked like strawberries. I'm just in love with it. They'll be going up for sale in the shop for our Cyber Monday stocking.

My other excitement (besides the growing pile of washcloths) is I shaved dd's pants yesterday. I have an Evercare sweater shaver that my sister bought for me at Target. It's amazing. Anyway, after pulling off the large pills I shaved for probably 20 minutes and had to empty the lint collector 3 times. But they look like a new pair of pants, it's amazing!

It's kind of hard to tell, but I had shaved the back of these but not the front yet. If you look at the part that's folded behind (right under the crotch / gusset) you can see the stitch definition that is clearly not there on the leg next to it. Amazing. I'm so excited about them again! So needless to say she has been wearing them the last couple days... which means I'll have to shave again. Oh well, they do need another dip in the lanolizing bath I do believe. But that means I have to take them off...

Current washcloth count: 15