Photo shoot

Gosh this girl is going to be trouble in a few more years! She loves to look pretty, loves to dress up, and really loves when someone says she looks cute! Yikes.

Today we did a brief photo shoot to model the little green top. It looks so cute on her.

Close up of the arm and back ribbing.

And one more picture. Mira said this one “had to be added to show the pretty flowers and Steve (our cat).”

It was a quick and simple knit done on size 10 needles from the top down. I think the yarn is New Cotton by Lang but I need to look it up.

Later I went browsing patterns on Knitty since I hadn’t seen the new Spring 08 designs yet. I totally fell in love with Brighton and cast on in the evening. I have extra AArlan Valdivia yarn from a different project that I think will work perfectly. It’s 74% flax and 26% viskose and has some serious strength to it. Hopefully it will block well and show the lace pattern. Too lazy to try a swatch!

I had to rip out 4 rows already since I can’t follow something this “complicated” while watching a movie and drinking wine. Hopefully I won’t rip too much, the yarn doesn’t stand up to it very well.

Tomorrow I will have 6 hours on a train so I’m looking forward to getting most of it done. We’ll see how chatty the kids are.

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Shrug

Today I wove in the ends to this little top for Mira.

She’s in her pj’s now so I’ll have to get a picture of her wearing it tomorrow. It’s my own make-up, quick and easy, knit with the fabulous Super by Needful Yarns. Correction: It’s knit in New Cotton by Lang! Oops. It fits her perfectly and looks springy. I’m so very ready for spring.

Just need to pick out the right button from my stash tonight. THEN it will be DONE!

Thanks for the encouragement from everyone in getting back into the knitting swing. I really forgot how much I need/crave/thrive on this daily habit of creativity and creation.

I added a few more patterns to my Patterns For Sale collection. You must check out the Anny Blatt books! I almost hate to see them go even though I have a copy of them saved for myself. Yes, they are that great!!!! The cover sweater (the one with the chicken) is one I made for my daughter since we used to own chickens. I’ll have to snap of pic of her wearing that tomorrow, too.

Thanks to those who placed orders. I’ll be off to Die Post first thing in the morning!

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New things happening…

Dishcloth is done! It was fun to make and just the little knitting pick-me-up I needed. You can find the pattern on Knitting Memories’ blog.

My invite to Ravelry successfully came through, at last! Apparently I was first invited back in September and then again in December but I had never been able to locate the e-mail. I turned off spam blockers, checked the trash bins, etc, etc, but still couldn’t get it to arrive in my inbox. Well, 3 days sitting around sick with nothing else to do but hit the ‘refresh, send invite again’ button paid off. Looks like tons of fun once everything gets organized. Can’t wait to start on it!

You may remember me mentioning that I used to own a yarn shop. Not everything sold by the time we had to close the doors so I still have inventory left including patterns and, of course, YARN! I am desperate to clear the last of it out so now is your chance to get some great stuff and low prices. I would like to sell it the ‘old fashioned’ way to keep things simple for now. Therefore, I will not be able to take credit cards at this time and instead prefer a check in the mail. Hope you understand.

If you look at the top of this page, above the title photo, you will see a new tab called Patterns for Sale. Click on it to see what I have listed so far. This barely skims the surface of what I have but it takes time to sort and post and I had to start somewhere. Check daily to see new additions!

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Dishcloth

True to my word I sat down Friday morning (took all of Thurs evening to decide on a pattern- such a huge decision!) to knit up the promised dishcloth. Both girls were sick with a nasty cold-cough-fever-achey thing so we decided to rent some movies off of iTunes to pass the time and I figured this would be the perfect time to sit, knit and keep an eye on them. (BTW, loved Meet the Robinsons!)

Wouldn’t you know it, about 3/4 of the way through my dishcloth I started getting that nasty feeling in my lungs and within a few more hours was totally laid out with the same thing. Yuk!

The entire weekend was spent lying down, coughing and moaning through the pain, with the girls by my side doing the same Saturday, and my dear husband catering to our every need. It’s now Monday afternoon and after having slept in until 11 today I’m beginning to come around. Thankfully the girls are both fine and even made it to school. My brain still isn’t fully functional and everytime I look at the dishcloth pattern I feel totally overwhelmed. I WANT to finish it but it seems like such a big job. Of course I’ve also been staring at my empty water glass for the last 15 minutes wondering how that’s going to get resolved.

Maybe I’ll just go back to bed. Another 14 hours of sleep should do the trick!

It’s a coffee cup. I’ll link the pattern as soon as I remember how.

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You never know…

I thought that coming home from my trip back home with 5 (yes FIVE) suitcases crammed waaaaaaaaay beyond the airplane weight limit with yarn, yarn, fabulous YARN plus 4 carry-ons that I could barely lift crammed again, with yarn, would inspire me to make tons of new stuff.

Sadly, just the opposite has happened.

I still haven’t been able to bring myself to unpacking any of these.

Sooooo many memories.

I love it here and wouldn’t trade it for the world, but sometimes I still mourn what I left behind.

Anyhow, tonight I have vowed to knit a washcloth. Little secret? I don’t like knitting washcloths, at all! Why, I don’t know, I just don’t. But my very first project as a new knit student umpteen years ago was a washcloth (2 washcloths, actually) and that’s what hooked me in to knitting and led me on to everything else.

Hopefully tonight’s washcloth will re-inspire me and lead me into the next chapter in my fabulous knitting life.

We’ll see.

And just so you don’t think I’m sitting, pining for the past under a rock somewhere ( because I’m certainly not! ) we just took a trip to Venice last week and I have started posting the first of tons of pictures at the family blog site www.yodelaiho.wordpress.com

And I joined a newbie running group to lose the rest of my unnecessary weight (so far, very good!) I will even be running a 5k on May Day – can’t wait. Thank you neighbor – fellow American – marathoner – excellent friend Mark for starting this group. LOVE IT, even though we get rained on most days 🙂

For now, buona notte ( I totally want to learn Italian now! ) , good night.

Tomorrow I will show off my washcloth!!

I’m ready for it!

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