Moonlight Knitter

Did anyone tell you that they had decided to move the earth closer to the sun!?! I know that has to be what happened! I think it is 150 degrees here! Thank God for the cental air! Hubby is out delivering in this crap today. Sucks to be him! Anyway, we had a family reunion Sunday.

This is my Aunt Marilyn, my Mom and my Aunt Pat at the reunion. I think Marilyn and Pat were scolding Mom for not getting the memo on the color they were supposed to wear!
Good food, family I don't get to see very often, people who are apparantly related to me, but I have no clue who they are! We went to that and took the boys home for naptime. Hubby then was Mr. Wonderful, and told me he would stay home while I went out to the farm to visit with my Aunts and Cousins. What a nice time. I instantly felt 10 years old again. We laughed about I don't know what. We poked fun at each other. Good stuff! I have a crazy bunch of Aunts! I like to think that I have learned alot from them. My Aunt Marilyn is a great knitter, but I didn't get a chance to sit and knit with her. I did let her fondle my stash. And everyone tried on Topi. Everyone! From my cousins to my 90 year old grandmother!
I do have something to show off. I finished a Flora from knitty.com.

It is made with Knit Picks Elegance in Oatmeal and Redwood. It is a quick knit! Under 6 hours total- the finishing and the flower take forever! Overall, I like it. Not crazy about the flower, but that is just me. I think the next one will have a felted flower on it.
Not much other knitting news. I have not knit much of anything lately. The heat does not make me want to knit! I hope the weather forecast is right and this CRAP is gonna end soon! I want to go back outside without my skin melting off!

So, as I said yesterday, I did finish something! Topi from knitty.com-

It is from some Cascade 220 from the stash and it only took 2 days! It was a fun knit and I think I will be gifting it to our neighbor/babysitter when she gets back from summer vacation! She is 12 and I am sure she will love it! The pattern was very well written and super easy to follow. I think I will make a few smaller ones for my Boys! Big Boy looked so cute in it! And Baby Boy loves hats! He kept stealing it off the glass head and wearing it. That's all for now. I am still trying to keep going on Cozy! Uugh! I think I have about 30 inches! Close to the half way mark!

And we are back! That was a long trip! Five days in WI. The camping went well. We were stormed on the last night there. But the tent only had a little leak. Although, since we tore down camp after a rain, we had to put the tent back up when we got home yesterday. And I now have 4 sleeping bags to take to the laundromat! Yuck! Not to mention the other laundry that needs done! But in all we had a nice trip. The Boys did good on their first camping trip and it won't be the last! We are planning the next camping trip already!
And one of the best things about coming home was finding my yarn orders had arrived! Take a look-

Let me break it down-
Upper left going clockwise- Knit Picks Dancing in Square Dance, from handpaintedyarn.com is Strawberry Fields bcv (3 skeins), Knit Picks Bare (2 skeins), Knit Picks Elegance in Grass, Redwood and Oatmeal, Knit Picks Memories in Yukon (2 skeins), Knit Picks Shadow in Sunset (3 skeins), and from handpaintedyarn.com is Red Java lm.
The Elegance is for a scarf for a friend. The Strawberry Fields is for a Clapotis. The Knit Picks Shadow is for a shawl. The Red Lava is for a lacey scarf maybe. And of course the Dancing and the Memories is for the sock yarn stash! So that is the Yarn Porn!
I worked on Cozy while camping. Although not as much as I hoped. I have a finished project to show off, but no time today. Tomorrow then. I have lots of laundry calling me now!

Well, Cozy is moving along well. I will not bore you with a progress shot. It looks the same, just longer. Not too long though, because I picked up the yarn for another project. My Hubby is so good to me. Saturday, he took the boys and told me to "Go play!" So I headed to The Yarn Shoppe! I needed to return the yarn I had gotten for Cozy and decided it wouldn't work. And I needed a button for BF's Lucy Bag. So I also picked up the yarn for what will be called Baby Boy Blue. I wanted to do fall jackets for my Boys. I found a pattern I love. It is in Adorable Knits for Tots by Zoe Mellor. The pattern is Robin Hood Jacket. The yan is Bartlett Yarns 3-ply in Dark Louvat. The color is a blue with green marbled in it. This one is for Baby Boy and I will do one for Big Boy in another color if all goes well. I am not crazy about the directions. I ended up writing them out stitch by stitch!
I read some reviews on this book, after starting the jacket. I am scared to death now! I may not be making another one of these for Big Boy. We will see! But I got through one pattern repeat and it will probably sit like this until it isn't so darn hot!

A close-up of the cables-

So I sat at The Yarn Shoppe for over 2 hours! I knit and chatted with Laurel, the owner, and Susan. Laurel is so sweet! She treats my boys so well when I have to bring them with me. She has a game there for kids to play with even! And she is always helpful to Hubby when he wanders blindly in there looking for a present for me. And Susan and I just mesh! We get to loud and talk and talk. So thank you Laurel and Susan, I had a great time and felt very refreshed after my visit!
We head to WI again this weekend, this time for a wedding. So we are leaving Friday morning and we will be back Tuesday afternoon. On Sunday we are taking the boys camping at Lake Winnebago. This will be their first camping trip. Hopefully all will go well! I have to pack up some knitting projects to take with me on our camping trip! Time to make a list!

I love getting mail! You would think that I was 4! And its even better when it is not bills. So I opened my mailbox today to find it full. A few magazines, a catalog, a refund check from when we refinanced (okay, it was only $8.03, but it is a check for us!), and a package from my SP8! YEAH! Here is a shot of the loot from SP8-

In the picture are some lemon bath salts, Vogue Knitting On the Go Socks Two, Bath & Body Works White Tea and Ginger antibacterial hand gel (it smells yummy!), and finally some of the prettiest yarn I have ever seen! It is a shiny purple the color of eggplant maybe? What will I do with this? Definately something lacey. So, thank you secret pal! You are definately figuring me out! Perhaps you could explain me a little more to my Hubby!

I have been enjoying Cozy. I keep checking to see how Earth Chick is doing. She keeps frogging! I do rely on my stitch markers big time! But I am getting to the point where it is getting pretty automatic, but not at all boring! This will take a while to complete. I am OK with that. Here is my progress-

A shot at the wonderful texture-

Cozy is currently measuring 15 inches long. The pattern says the finished length is 67.5 inches. Yikes!

I started Cozy! It is my first lacey project. And I love it! I think along with my goal of always having a pair of socks in progress, I think I will also include lace. I have always looked at those lacey shawls and thought "No Way!" But, I think I am rethinking this. With Cozy, I have already learned to use stitch markers and count often. I had an extra stitch once, and was able to check that little section only, because of stitch markers. I had forgotten to psso. So, luckily, it was easy to fix. I have had to tink back a few times, but nothing more than a row. So, so far so good! Here are the pictures for proof-

I am 2 1/2 repeats in to the pattern. I had never worked with 100% silk. I am enjoying it. I can't believe it, but I may becoming a yarn snob! I do have a question that I hope someone out there may be able to answer. I have Eucalan wash I use for my wooly items. What should I use with this 100% silk when I am done with Cozy and ready to wash and block? This will also be the first thing I block. So many firsts for me lately!
And I did finish and felt BF's Lucy Bag. It is drying as we speak. I think she may get it tonight! Pictures tomorrow probably. So as soon I had that done, Cozy got on the needles last night! I want to get my Kool-aid socks off the needles this next week. We will see!

Clapotis is finished! It was a fun knit. I really enjoyed the knitting. I will be making it again! I think there will be a few Clapotis for Christmas! I wish it were longer. But now I know. Here are the stats=

2 balls Ejido 160 in Fondo Marino from www.handpaintedyarn.com
Started Sunday July 2, during World Cup Soccer
Finished Thursday July 6
Knitted on size 9 Addi's
The pattern is Clapotis from knitty.com

And now for a few pictures.

"I'm ready for my close-up"


I need to finish BF's Lucy Bag today and felt it. I want to finish my other Kool-Aid sock. Then on to Cozy I think. I have been a bit dicouraged to start Cozy though. I have been reading a few other bloggers reports of having a few problems. I think I will need to rely heavily on stitch markers to keep track. Otherwise, I have to bale hay for my Dad tomorrow! Yuck! I hope everyone elses weekend is better than that!

I love this pattern! I was concerned I was doing it wrong. I ripped it all out Saturday night. I restarted Sunday morning. I was still uncertain of my progress. I spent a few minutes on the internet stalking other people who have done Clapotis. I settled my uneasy feelings and the pattern started flying off the needles! Here is a progres shot:

I did 2 repeats for the width of it. I am aiming for a scarf like FO. I finished repeat 3 so far on the length. I want it long. So I plan on knitting until I am out of yarn. This is moving along so fast! I want to get this finished fast. Because I need to try it out! If all goes well, this may be an option for a few Christmas gifts!
In other news, I did not make my self imposed deadline for BF's Lucy Bag. No surprise really. I just have a few inches to go on strap #2. I have a good excuse though. BF and I excaped to the mall for a little retail therapy and pedicures!

I know that I stated in my last post that I loved the UPS guy. And I am married to a FedEx guy. But today the Mail Lady brought me 2 packages! My order from Herrschner's and my order from handpaintedyarn.com.

Let me give you the run down. Lower left hand corner is the Reynolds Mandalay 100% silk in Charcoal. Upper left hand corner is the lace weight wool in Velvet Grapes. I loved the name of it! The other 2 are the Ejido 160 in Fondo Marino and Cueros. Yummy! The Ejido 160 is for Clapotii (plural of Clapotis??). And of course, the Mandalay is for Cozy. Hubby is getting really tired of being my swift. He is getting very hostile actually

So I think a swift will be a must in the future. And here is a little peak into what I need to get a hold on-

In case it is not perfectly clear as to what this is, this is where I keep my needles! I am the picture of organization! What a mess! Maybe I can get my Mom to make me a needle holder.
BF's Lucy bag is almost there! My goal is tomorrow. It is gonna be close! I hope to cast on for Cozy or a Clapotis tonight also! I can do it!