Dances With Yarn

And The Winner Is....

Kat, who came the closest to guessing how old my dad will be turning this June.  My father will be very pleased to know that NO ONE guessed he would be turning 80 this June!  Thanks to all who played, and a special thanks to Robin who guessed that my dad was 20 years younger than he actually is, and in doing so earned herself a consolation prize!  If both of you will send me your addresses, I'll pop a couple of skeins of Hill Country sock yarn in the mail to you.

In crochet news, I'm working on the last panel of the Babette Blanket and am already planning another one. 

I plan to re-do a few of the squares due to some color balance issues, but other than that, we're good to go.

 

There is a Flickr group set up with other pics of Babette Blankets here for those of you who are interested.  Seeing some of these other Babettes is what inspired me to make another, but I'm not exactly sure what yarn I want to use for this one.  Suggestions?

Guess What I Did Today!

I PLAYED TENNIS!!!

Now that may not seem like a big deal to most of you, but for those who know me, it's a big deal!  I have to admit that I haven't been much of an exercise buff lately.  In fact, I'm more accurately what you might call an "office potato" -- in other words, I spend a lot of time in my office.  Too much most days.

What happened was the other day I was driving up to watch Cheerleader Daughter play in a tennis tournament, and while I was driving I started thinking back to the days when I played a little tennis, and I remembered how much fun it used to be, and I decided that I wanted to start playing again.  Just like that, 'cause that's how I roll (as Cheerleader Daughter would say).  The first matter of business was tennis attire of course, so the next morning (yesterday) I woke up extra early so that I could run to the Sporting Goods store to buy some tennis outfits, tennis shoes, and a tennis racquet.  Today He Who Wears Levi's and I went out to the courts to hit a few and BOY WAS IT FUN!!!  Football Star Son and Sarah even joined us which made it a bit of a family affair.  Let me tell you that for this "office potato", the fresh air, sunshine, and RUNNING was awesome!  I can't wait to go again.  I played for a full hour and I'm a little stiff but I'm psyched!  Most of you don't know how badly I need this, but I NEED THIS! 

Cheerleader Daughter and her doubles partner Stephanie played great and made it all the way to the finals.

They ended up in second place and won cute little bobble-head tennis trophies.

If you're wondering why Cheerleader Daughter is playing in flannel pajama bottoms, it's because she had them on over her shorts for her first match (which they won) and then decided that they must be good luck and kept them on for the rest of the day despite playing in 80 degree temps. 

Superstitious much???

Two things we learned after this tennis tournament:

1. Cheerleader Daughter makes funny faces while playing tennis, and

     2.  My tennis photography needs some work.

Congratulations Girls!

In other news, Cheerleader Daughter made the varsity squad, but she did not make the position of head or co-head cheerleader which she was truly hoping to make.

 

AND Little Brother Football Star turned 14!!!!

Happy Birthday Baby!

And now for something different, I thought it would be fun to have a contest.  This is my father.

The person who comes the closest to telling me how old my father is going to be this June 15th wins a skein of something special.  Only those who don't already know the answer to this question are eligible (Glamaw!).  Good luck! 

A Little Perspective

As promised, I've pulled the Babette Blanket from the UFO basket and have begun to work on it again.  Here's my progress so far...

This blanket is worked in sections and then each section is seamed together to form the larger afghan.  To give you a little perspective on how much I've actually finished and how much I still have left to go, here's a pic of the assembly chart.  The yellow shaded sections are what I've completed and the unshaded sections are the unfinished sections.  Section 10 of the blanket (shown above) measures 60" long (unblocked and without the border) so this will be a large afghan when everything is said and done.  If you'll remember, the finished dimensions of this blanket using the called for Koigu measured only 40" X 43"!  I've tried to keep my colors as similar to the actual pattern colors as possible to make sure the blanket is well balanced color-wise.  In other words, the pattern tells you specifically which colors to use in each square, and I'm trying to match those colors as closely as possible with my substitute Cotton-Ease yarn.   Sometimes this is a bit of a challenge since the pattern uses more colors of the Koigu than that Cotton-Ease comes in, but so far it's been lots of fun and I'm enjoying the simplicity and mindlessness of it. 

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of Kyle's accident.  I can't believe it's already been a year -- it seems as if it was just yesterday.  The good news is that everybody (including me) seemed to handle it very well.  Football Star Son spent the evening at Kyle's parents' house, and Cheerleader Daughter took flowers to the grave.  I've been anxious about this day (among so many others) and I'm glad it's over.

And now I'll leave you with some "eye candy Tuesday" (sorry guys, I just can't seem to get these things posted on Fridays), my beautiful daughter and her boyfriend enjoying some crawfish and the beach.

 

Give Me An A!

Cheer tryouts are tomorrow and Cheerleader Daughter is trying out for the varsity squad (again). 

(Videotaped by Little Brother Football Star)

The whole dance can be seen here.

Wish us luck!

A Week Full Of...

highs...

lows...

and more FO's...

Beware The Ides Of March

I totally believe that soothsayer's warning was meant for me as well as ol' Julius Caesar because today was really "one of those days".  And seeing as the Ides "are come but not yet gone" I plan to spend the rest of the day in hiding. 

Fortunately I finished a few projects prior to today.  If you can look past the mismatched outfit, the unbrushed hair, and the unmade-up visage (if you knew the day I had, you would totally forgive all of these), you will see a finished Wicked!

You may also see a finished Cabled Hoodie!

And even another pair of slippers!

Over the past several weeks I have exercised considerable restraint and did not cast on for anything new except one pair of socks, and that was only because I needed a small and simple project to take with me for some function that I can no longer remember (probably because I was knitting and not paying attention!). 

I'm currently working on yet another pair of slippers for HWWL and then plan to pull my Babette Blanket back out to hopefully finish.  Don't ask me why, but recently I've had a strong urge to finish up several UFO's so I hope to take full advantage of that and knock out a few more FO's before the next post.

Specs for the above projects are:

• Pattern:  Wicked from ZephyStyle
• Size:  Second to the smallest size (35" bust)
• Yarn:  Just over 3 skeins of Hill Country Yarns Merino Silk in Teal
• Time to make: I could have finished this in about a week if I hadn't run out of yarn
• Notes:  I lengthened the sweater by about an additional 3 inches.  This pattern is very well written and is lots of fun to make.  I could definitely see me making another in a somewhat chunkier yarn next winter.

• Pattern:  Patons Cabled Hoodie
• Size:  Small (32 - 34" bust)
• Yarn:  8 or 9 skeins Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Mink
• Time to make:  About 7 weeks
• New skills learned:  Cabling without a cable needle
• Notes:  I love this sweater.  I still need to sew in the zipper and am trying to decide whether to attempt this myself or take it to my seamstress.  Other than lengthening the sleeves 2 inches, there were no other modifications made.  The bottom ribbing was a little "tight" prior to blocking so I made sure to stretch it out a bit while blocking to get it to relax.  If I ever re-knit this, I think i would use a larger needle for the ribbing around the bottom of the sweater only.  I chose to sub the Wool-Ease in place of the Patons Merino so that I could get more wear out of the sweater without worrying about pilling and for easier washability.  This was my first cardi but it won't be my last.

• Pattern:  Fiber Trends Crochet Felted Slippers
• Size:  Women's medium for Cheerleader Daughter's size 8 feet
• Yarn:  Patons Classic Merino in Black and That's Pink
• Time to make:  About 6 hours
• Notes:  Everybody who sees these slippers falls in love with them and wants a pair!  Fun and easy!    

Nothing To Show You But...

... I came across this post today and felt it summed up so well how I feel about knitting.  If you've never read Cara's blog (which I doubt), PLEASE take a few moments to check it out.  If you're like me, you'll go back often.

Hope everybody's having a terrific weekend!

Eye Candy Monday

Yeah.  I never have been much of a follower, ya know? 

My Redbuds are blooming.
(Do yourself a favor and maximize these pics.)

 

My Azaleas and Gardenias have buds on them as well.  In a month's time, my yard will be exploding with color.  Spring is nigh....

... and my cabled hoodie is blocking...

It just doesn't get much better than this ;-)

In A Moment Of Weakness...

... I was unfaithful to my cabled hoodie and just had to whip up a quick FO.  So much for knitting monogamy. 

I present Fiber Trend's Crocheted Felt Boot Slippers (sans sheep), made for and modeled by Little Brother Football Star. 

Before

After

These were put through the washer only once and are still a little big, but I figure they'll be needing another washing soon and will be perfect after that.  I let LBFS stay up last night until they were out of the washer and he liked them so much that he wanted to sleep with them on.  I explained that I could not let him sleep with wet wool on his feet all night (the only thing that smells worse than wet wool would be his feet in wet wool) so he allowed me to dry them overnight but put them on as soon as he got home from school today.  They're still wet, but he refuses to take them off!  Nothing like an appreciative recipient of a hand-made gift, is there?

So, I've had my fun and now it's back to my cabled hoodie.  I've only a sleeve and a hood left to go so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel but oy the cables!  My zipper(s) arrived in the mail today today though, so it's time to get crackin'.

And I'm probably the last person to discover this site, but I really like some of their bags and pillows and can totally envision doing some of them in crochet (these types of projects really are faster and the bags are sturdier when crocheted as opposed to knit).  For those of you who both knit and crochet, consider crocheting the background of the bag and knitting the flowers (which are knit separately and sewn to the bag before felting) as opposed to knitting the whole thing.  For those of you who only crochet, consider crocheting the background of the bag and crocheting interesting motifs or granny squares.  Fun fun!

Okay, back to ol' ball and chain, AKA the cabled hoodie ;-)   

New and Improved!

I'm pleased to introduce the new and improved Crochet Cast with my new co-host Cheryl!  Hope on over, give it a listen, and leave us some feedback on what you think of the new format. 

In other news, we have been blessed with an unseasonably warm couple of days.  And SUNSHINE!

And here's a little eye candy for you northerners!  Can spring be just around the corner?  Don't hate.

A single rose.  Slightly late for Valentines Day but still.  And yes, those ARE weeds in the background ;-) 

I took advantage of the beautiful weather and snapped a few WIP pics outside.  Check out the color match of my Hill Country Yarn Merino Silk!  Now I can finish my Wicked!

While Wicked's been waiting patiently for its remaining yarn, I've been knitting exclusively on my Cabled Hoodie.  It's hard to tell from the pic, but I've completed the back, both fronts, and most of one sleeve.  One sleeve and the hood left to go! 

 

Knitting monogamy makes for boring blogging folks, but I hope to have two FO's to show you soon.  Oh and that pretty little pink-cabled circular needle?  Yep, I caved and bought some of the KnitPicks Options needles.  I adore them.  Adore.  Are they sharp?  Yes.  Did they hurt my fingers a little at first?  Yes.  Did I work through the pain?  Of course (as evidenced in the above pic).  Was it totally worth it?  You know it!  If you like sharp needles, I highly recommend you try these if you haven't already.  I didn't buy the whole set, I only bought the sizes I thought I'd use most often but this was probably one of the best knitting purchases I've made in a long time.  Not the only knitting purchase mind you, but certainly the best!

Speaking of purchases.... I may have... sort of.... bought a little something from my girl Heather.  This is not my first purchase from Heather and it certainly won't be my last either.  Heather rocks and her jewelry is amazing.  Heather puts so much care into her jewelry and everything comes packaged so beautifully -- she even sent me some Dove chocolates but as you can see, they disappeared before I even had a chance to snap a pic!  Oh!  And Heather even included a second beautiful pair of earrings for free!  And they are as beautiful as the first ones!  Black teardrops!  So lovely!  Thank you Heather!