Quote of the Week

"Creativity, innovation and nontraditional ways of solving
problems are feared by noncreative, uninnovative, and traditional
people. It causes them apprehension and consternation. They
cope with their fear by criticizing people who do things
differently.
If nothing can ever change, nothing can ever get any
better! If you don't create new ways to solve old problems, you'll
always be stuck with the old problems."

--from Sweater Design in Plain English, by Maggie Righetti

I've definately run into this problem. Have you?

Take care and have a great weekend!

I think I need new glasses...

The glass...half full or half empty?
When moved, it leaves a lovely circle of soda. And went into the trash! (I only have three of these left out of eight!)

Mr. Bear is modeling the helmet liner.
Pattern: Helmet Liner

Yarn: Cascade 220 heathers, tan color.

Needles: #8 and #6 circular and dpn.

Modifications: I used the #8 for the bottom ribbing (read the pattern wrong), but by the time I realized it, I was too far in (I didn't want to frog it out)!

I was worried it wouldn't fit, but the friend I made it for tried it on and it fit on his head. He also knew, better than I did, how to put it on! I got it stuck!

Hope all are having a great weekend!

Lotus Tank

Pattern: Lotus Blossom Tank, Interweave Knits, Summer '06.
Yarn: El. D. Mouzakis, Butterfly - 10; 2 and 1/2 skeins. Color: 3727 (spring green).
Needles: Sizes #5, #6, and #7.
Modifications: Did 5 pattern reps of the lace using #7's, switched to #6 [per the pattern], and then did the top bodice portion in #5. Also made the bodice longer (the stst portion) by about an inch.

The back.

This picture was taken without the flash. I wanted to show the detail of the lace (my LittleOne thinks the lotus flowers look like a skeleton -- I'm thinking alien!) The pictures with the flash show the more true color! I love the way this came out! After reading some lackluster reviews of other knitters, I was afraid, but I just kept on going and trusted my instinct! This fits great and I'm glad I made it longer. I'm tall-waisted, so sometimes the short things bother me as I'm constantly pulling and tugging to keep my back covered.

And, of course, Ella for Dogs on Thursday! She's looking long and lean here! I've missed the last few weeks!

The last day of school for my kiddos here! Good grief! What happened to this year? It seems like only two days ago school was starting! Wow! Time really does fly! (Ask around, everyone will tell you!)

Hope all have a great Memorial Day weekend! It's supposed to be a nice cool one here in the desert (for a change)!

Thanks

Everyone seems to enjoy my cactus pictures, so when I take Ella for her walk tomorrow, I'll see if I can find some different ones to show you all. Thanks for great comments!

Also, I can't believe I won the caption contest. (I didn't even think it was that good!) Thanks to (not-so) Cynical Knitting Gal's Idgie! And for Gracie too!

Have a great Friday!

Bloomin' Cacti

Just thought you all would like to see some of the cactus flowers that I see every day when we walk Ella through the desert. Don't you just love this pink?
Went on a field trip with Munchkin's class today to a desert park/garden, but of course, I forgot my camera. I can't believe they're done with school next week! Ack!

Babbling Brook Tuesday

Just a quick update on things here in Cactus-land. I'm still working away on the Lotus Blossom Tank. I finished the front and am almost done with the back, but not quite at the short rows/shoulders yet. It's been slow going this weekend. I was hoping to get it done by Sunday, Mother's Day (and a belated Happy Mother's Day to all out there), but no such luck. My birthday was also over the weekend, so between Mother's Day, birthday, both kids having baseball all weekend, and my parents visiting, not much knitting was done.
So, I'm sort of going through knitting withdrawal. I have the urge to get it done, but not the time. (Or rather, other things keep jumping in the way!)
And I have a ton of other projects that I want to get to, like (mind you, this is just a sampling):

1. Helmet Liner -- cast on, but not resembling it whatsoever!
2. Razor Cami -- on the needles, and only about eight inches in! (the link is for the KAL, you can find the pattern there or on Ravelry!
3. Beanpole Beanie -- just a distant wish for the needles! (I don't even have the yarn for it!)
4. Foliage -- I attempted this before, and would like to try again.

And many, many more hats/small projects that catch my eye in the next few weeks! I think after the razor cami, or while I'm working on it, I'm going to focus on some instant gratification projects!
Hope all are having a great week!

Take care!

Doggie Visitors and New Project Pictures

This is Ella's friend Abby. Abby lives in Colorado with Cocoa (see below). Abby and Ella have been friends for years and love to see each other. Abby and Cocoa were visiting for the weekend, so Ella (and mom) were busy and didn't get much knitting done. Abby and Cocoa's mom loves to get my hats, so I need to find some quick and easy summer/winter hats for her.
This is Cocoa. She's a mini-dapple daschund. Still a puppy, but won't get any bigger.
Ella and Abby posing together. (Ella's pretending to be a lab!) Ella loves her Abby.

And my new project! Since I finished my CPH, I figured I needed some warm, sleeveless wear, so...

...this is the Lotus Blossom Tank from Interweave Knits, Summer '06. I'm using Butterfly super-10 mercerized cotton. I bought three skeins, in color number 3727 (spring) and am doing an extra lace repeat for some length. I'm almost done with the lace part and used the calculator from the last entry (May 2) to figure the decreases for me. I hate trying to figure those out! Reading some of the comments from Ravelry and the KAL scare me, so I'm ignoring them and just going to keep on knitting.

Hope all have a great week! Take care.

Helpful Hint Friday

I just found this great site.

It's already helped me out!

Check it out!

Knitting How To...

It's a page calculator that will help you calculate decreases, increases and other things!