Late Night JoAnn's trips....

....are the best. There is hardly anyone there and look at what I scored!

The bright floral is almost a whole yard. I'm not sure about this, but I think I might be able to squeeze a skirt out of it. And the blue...that is a lovely jacquard print that I'm thinking will be a pretty coin purse

And this purchase was an amazing find.

This was in the clearance bin in the back-the only one like it. I got it for a mere dollar. (Originally priced 10.99) It's a hard case for storing knitting notions such as stitch markers, tape measure, etc. This particular model is specifically designed to be the right size to hold DPN's as well. I might hold onto this to send in a swap or as a gifty item.

I am in Farmville at my sister's today for a visit. I *sorta* taught her to knit...as best as a righty can teach a lefty to knit. She learned the rest from a book specially designed for lefty knitting. I took a few unfinished projects with me with the hope that a solid day of knitting might turn out some finished objects. My nephew immediately started digging through my bag in search of presents. I did bring him a coloring book and a box of crayons, but he was most interested in this project.

I told him it was a skiing headband and he immediately yanked it onto his head. He is a very good poser of pictures. I asked him to tilt his head down so I could see the pattern.I think it looks much prettier on him that it would on me, what do you think? He was super cute-when I snapped the pictures he said "Pleeease!" instead of cheese.

We then headed out to Charley's for lunch- a local restaurant with an amazing menu and wonderful scenery. It is set right on the bend of the river and has a great atmosphere. I learned that if you are going to feed a toddler chocolate sauce you might want to forego the yellow shirt. But that's why they invented Tide-to-Go pens, right?

Got to go....hopefully I will get some knitting done today :)

Spring!!

Today when I left work I had a pleasant surprise! Spring has finally arrived at long last. Let's just hope it sticks around for a while.

I received my spring swap package from my pal Petra yesterday. Thanks Petra! I loved it!
Check out that super-cool bag! It is from Old Navy....I wonder if it is "green"? It feels a little rough like burlap (but not that rough). There are two skeins of TLC Essentials and a coaster-making kit. That ought to be fun to play with.
Check out the cute light-catcher/wall-hanging she sent. I haven't decided where to hang it yet. I'm thinking maybe my kitchen window...
Then there were these crafty cards. Petra, did you make these yourself? You crafty girl...I'm impressed. I will definitely use these :) Thanks again Petra, and I hope you like your goody bag when it gets there!

In knitting news... I cast on for something else. I know what you're thinking, but this is totally different. This isn't a case of neglect of my current project (which I can prove, see below) but planning ahead for Christmas. See, my mother-in-law LOVES my handknit dishcloths. It's all she uses to wash her dishes and she goes through them pretty quickly. She asks for them for every holiday. I found this great group on Ravelry (still addicted by the way) that is a weekly *free* dishcloth pattern. I probably won't make every single pattern, but this one was too cute to pass up. Right now it looks like a sock, but it is a dishcloth knit in the round and when it is off the needles it will lay flat and hopefully look like a big fancy circle.

I am still knitting on my Incan Pullover. I had to completely rip the whole thing back and start over so I had a bit of a setback but I am making mad progress now. Especially this afternoon. After work I set up camp on my front porch swing and just swung (swang?) and knit and watched the traffic go by.

Chance is so funny when I bring him outside while I sit on the swing. He usually wants to curl up right at my feet but since my feet move he can't figure out where to lay down. He will pace and circle until he thinks he's found the perfect spot-close enough to my feet but far enough from the strange moving seat. Then as soon as he settles in for a snooze he gets wonked by the swing and he starts the whole process over again. Eventually he gives up, settles for a seat far from me and the swing and glares at me from he too-far-away seat. It's really quite entertaining.

Lightbulb

Today I made an astounding discovery.

Hand-knit socks are the best thing ever!

Ok, ok...I've known for a while how comfy handknit socks are. I have knit a few pairs (3 and half to be exact) and I wear them occasionally around the house. However today, I wore some with shoes to work for the very first time. I've never done it before because I thought they would be too thick to be wearing when I am on my feet all day. Plus, I worried about the rough wear and tear on my precious handknits. Call me crazy but after all the time invested in a handknit piece I only want to wear it for a special occasion.

Wrong! They were wonderful! I want to only wear handknit socks forever!

I knit these socks last summer. The yarn weight is actually more like a lightweight DK than the usual sock-weight yarn I prefer, but I couldn't resist the colors. I love the way the yellow transitions from a sunshine yellow, to a creamy yellow, to a buttery yellow. I love yellow. I believe the yarn is Artyarns Supermerino 6. They make a lighter weight yarn that is probably more suitable to socks, but this worked out just fine for me. I believe I used a US 4 on these socks.

I have discovered a network near my house that I can get on if I sit on my bed at a certain angle with the computer slightly tilted on my lap as long as I am patient with the signal coming and going. So for the past two days I have been absorbed in Ravelry, blogging, and general internet surfing. I know I am overusing the internet at this point, but I am so deprived! It's so nice to be able to check my email without driving all the way to Panera!! Ok, back to ravelry.

BTW....if anyone who reads this happens to be on ravelry, come say hello. My username is knittykaren.

Bits and Pieces

It's time for a random post...


This past weekend I went with my sister to the Downtown Mall. We were in search of another skein of the light purple yarn for my Incan pullover, but both yarn stores in town don't have the right color. I guess that means I will turn to the internet, but silly me threw the ball band out so I don't know the color number and the colors on my computer aren't always accurate.

While we were downtown we paid a visit to the McGuffy Art Center. I had never actually been inside. It is an old school that they have turned into part studio, part gallery. There are about a dozen individual studios that artists can rent (I guess?) to have space to make their art. Some of the studios are open so you can actually see the art-in-progress, some are closed. They even offer art classes every so often. There is a round of classes starting now that I would love to take one or two, but they are a little pricey and it just isn't in the budget right now. Anyway, we went there specifically to see this:

That is a sculpture of my sister, when she was 10. A friend of our mom's was a sculptor and was looking for a child to pose for her and Heather fit the bill. I had never seen the statue in person and it had been years since Heather had so we decided to drop in. (She did wear a leotard when she posed.)

Afterward we walked the mall for a bit and there was this cute little guy who hung around us for a bit.

I don't think I've ever posted a picture of these to the blog. A friend of mine made these for me a few years ago.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the charms are actually shrinky-dinks. Does anyone remember those? She printed pictures from her computer onto shrinky-dink stuff and then did the magic baking. I don't use them too often because they are a little big. They work best with large needle knits and I prefer to use sizes 8 and below, but I love to look at them.