So Much to Do...So Very, Very, Very Little Time

I've got so many things I want to get done in the next month or so, but got sidetracked by these:

When I saw this (thanks Tiennie), I just had to cast on my own!
Pattern: Evangeline
Yarn: Cascade 220, colorway of sapphire (it's like a light blue, almost denim color).
Needles: #7 dpn
Modifications: I, like Tiennie, did an extra pattern repeat above the thumb opening. If I did these again, I'd make the thumb opening bigger. It's a little tight for me, but it'll work. I would also move where the opening is over by two stitches. It was difficult to pick up the thumb opening stitches and make it look neat on the side. I also did 9 rounds on the thumb, and purled the 10th, and did a purl bind off. But they were a quick knit.

(Edited: I just wore these to walk Ella this morning and they were great! They kept my hands warm, but not overly so as it's not too cold here this morning.)


Now, what's all this yarn you ask?

Don't you just hate it when you go into a store, say Michael's for instance, on a totally unrelated errand and you just happen to walk by the yarn and see that it's on clearance! Yes, I had to buy all seven of these! (They were $2.oo!) I think they will become this after I finish this! It's Patons Classic Wool Merino in burgundy.

Now, this next picture is what I have to get done this week.

Out here there's something called Rodeo Days. Yes, the schools close for two days for the rodeo! Weird and strange, I know! But anyway, the kinders at my LittleOne's school do a rodeo program. They're supposed to dress up in western gear. So, I'm going to sew up the cowgirl outfit for her, but instead of the traditional brown (as shown on the pattern cover), she wanted pink! So, the fabric in the back will be her outfit. And the ball trim will go on the bottom of the skirt and the vest instead of the fringe. I'll let you know how it comes out!

(Man, the spell chekc sitll is'nt wroking!)

Dogs on Thursday (all day).

Today I'm going to send you all to the Dogs On Thursday site.

Why? You ask?

Well...Ella is the spotlight dog! (and she's very, very excited about that!)

And for those of you who are wondering, we think Ella has some Australian Kelpie in her (a sheep dog for a knitter without sheep!). A goggle image search shows some of her great relatives!

Happy DOT day!!!

CPH Yarn

Okay. I've gone and done it. I bought the yarn for a Central Park Hoodie today!

Isn't it pretty?

Six wound balls (the un-wound is an extra, a just to be sure I have enough) of Cascade 220 wool in a lovely butter yellow. They call it lemon, but it's a little more buttery (to me anyway).

I wanted something different. I was originally thinking of using a dark red or something, but I saw this and went way out of my color comfort zone. I'm ususally gravitating towards the purples, blues, teals range. I think it's going to be a great color change for me!

A Strange Weather Day

Today was some of the strangest weather we've had in the desert for quite some time. It rained most of the morning and the sun came out for about ten minutes, just long enough for me to take these two pictures of the mountains and the snow.

This is looking north east from the kids' school parking lot.

So, the sun came out for this little bit, I went inside to give something to the LittleOne's teacher, and came out and it looked like it was snowing! It was sleet/rain! (No picture of that!)

These are my geraniums with the pea sized hail about an hour after we got home from school. (Oh, yeah, the sun came out for about 15 minutes and then hail!)

Now the sun's out again! What a strange weather day.

I Got Mail

This lovely package came in the mail on Thursday! Yes, that's how the package came out of the mailbox. What happened you ask? I don't know. Maybe the postman got attacked by a coyote or a bobcat on the way to my mailbox. Or maybe a moose stepped on it! I say a moose, as my great-aunt in northern Maine sent this to me. (What is the USPS doing these days?)

This lovely shawl was in that package. With no damage done! I did wash it and let it dry. My great-aunt knit this, when I'm not sure, but it's probaby, at least, ten to twenty (or more) years old.

A great surprise!!!

Fab Finished Object Friday

It was really difficult to get a good picture of this hat! But there's a great cable pattern right down the front (four of them actually) of this hat!


The top is great! This picture is really bad, though.

Pattern: Rivendell Hat from Mag Knits. (Their picture is a lot better than mine!)
Yarn: Cascade 220 wool, red.
Needles: #3.
Modifications: I made this a little longer than called for in the pattern. I like hats to cover my ears. However, this one is a little tight. Next time I'd probably go up a needle size even though I had the guage on the #3's.

This next hat was finished in December of '07 and I just never took a picture of it, nor really posted about it. So here it is!

The top is a nice swirl design that is flat when you wear it!

Pattern: Stella's Hat from Knitting School Dropout.

Yarn: Cascade 220, superwash wool in a bright purple.

Needles: I think I used what the pattern called for! (I can't remember!)

Modifications: Again, I made it longer to cover my ears!

These are two great patterns! The Rivendell Hat took me a long time as it was on smaller needles, but I like the hat. I think everyone needs a red hat! The Stella's hat is a quick knit and I tend to wear that one a lot on these cooler mornings we are having here in the desert!

Hope all have had a great week!

Edited Sat. Morning -- For Stella's hat I used #8 needles (got to love that Ravelry when you enter your projects!).

You Make My Day

A mighty thanks to Stitches and Stories for nominating me for the "You Make My Day" Award!


The rules are as follows: “Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times."

Here's my list (and in no particular order either!).

Dropped a Stitch -- she has some great hat patterns! Her Father/Daughter hat is my Hubby's all time favorite hat!

Cynical Knitting Gal -- Ella and Gracie have a "doggie" coorespondence going on! Plus she's just funny!

TiennieKnits -- She always knits such great things! Makes her own patterns and can knit a pair of socks or a sweater or mitts, etc. in no time! I always tell her how much she inspires me to knit!

...and another thing -- Carrie always has such great posts! She knits so many different things and always has great pictures of her projects.

Pat's Knitting and Quilting -- I love all of her stuff! She has a great sock collection, too!

Blather Magather -- Tiennie put me onto this blog! It's great! She's funny, her stories always make me laugh and she knits pretty good too!

NH Knittingmama -- What can I say! She always has such nice things to say!

K1-pugs2 -- One of my first 'blog' friends! I just like seeing what she's up to.

Smariek Knits -- She has great hat patterns! I love the Utopia hat and want to knit up her Swirl hat! She does some awesome things with those cables!!!

There are more out there whom I would love to mention, but then I'd probably just be listing my entire sidebar lists! So...check these guys out (if you don't already) and visit some of the others too.

Hope all have a great, great night!

(Cactus Edit: I can't believe I left 10 comments in about 30 minutes! Whew! That was some of the quickest reading and writing I've done in a while! You all have such great projects going! Thanks for inspiring me to keep on knitting and to try new things! Have a great night!)