I'm Back Baby!!!

Hi All! Hope every one's summer is going great for them and not too hot. We got back two days ago and it's taken me this long to get caught up, what with laundry, cleaning the house (you would think that with no one here, it would be clean!!) and then we decided to re-arrange our living room, office space and basically the entire house!
I'll have some pictures tomorrow, I still have to up-load them to the computer and haven't got around to it yet.
Now...I have a question to pose to you all out there, I'm struggling with the Magic Loop sock method. I started last night by following the directions I got from the knitpicks web site, and got really confused. Is there a better pattern/tutorial out there that I should/could use? Or, should I just jump right in and begin? I'm tempted to just jump right in because I really want to learn how to do this (no second sock syndrome!). I just printed out the knitty.com info on the magic cast-on for toe-up socks, so I'll look that over later and see if it makes more sense to me.
Since we've gotten back home, the monsoon has kicked in full time. It's been cloudy and humid here and raining every afternoon/evening. It's great. We really need the rain in the desert!
(Oh, by the way, school starts back here in a little over three weeks!)
Take care and happy knitting!

Happy, Happy 4th

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July!
Hope everyone is having (or going to have) a great time with lots of food, fireworks and fun! (The three "F's"!)
I forgot to bring my camera cord to show you the pictures of Colorado! Yes, that's where we are! It's great too. I talked to my parents yesterday and they said in AZ it was supposed to be 115 degrees today! Wow! Right now I'm (well as soon as I'm done typing) going to go get my ...hmmm...CPH or a good bias shrug....I'll make up my mind when I get up! It rained really good yesterday, and sounds like thunder again now! Ella is here with us visiting her friends Abby and Coco (if you look back through you'll see the pictures of Ella's doggie friends). And they're having a great time.
I have made a couple of yarn purchases (pictures to follow at a later date):

1. some Hemp yarn from, believe it or not, the Hemp Store!
2. a lovely skein of papaya colored of bulky Shepherd's Shades (it was on sale and there was only one left, how could I not?) {Amanda hat perhaps?}
3. one skein of Shepherd Sport in a great teal color, which has already become a hat!

Oh, and a set of Addi Turbo needles #2 in a 40" length to teach myself the magic loop method of knitting two socks at once!

There will probably be more yarn added as the days go by, so stay tuned!

Hope your 4th is safe and fun!

Howdy!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I'm on vacation for a couple of weeks, but when I get back, I'll have a couple of FO's to show you all! (The A Good Bias, my perpendicular hat and a couple of others!)
Off to go do the tourist thing and hunt down a couple of yarn stores!
Take care and hope everyone is well!

Happy First Day of Summer

Well, according to the calendar, summer is officially here today!
Seems like it's been around for a month or so here in the desert, though. But...there is light at the end of the tunnel. My Hubby always looks forward to today, not because it's the 'official' start of summer, but because as he says, the days start getting shorter! Out here that's important as that hot, hot afternoon sun isn't beating down on us as long!
So...I hope all out there have a great first day of summer! And start enjoying those 'shorter' days!

Two For Tuesday

Well, it's about time! Pictures of finished projects!
Project number one:
The Razor Cami!
Project number two:
Cabled Rangoli Hat!



Project: Razor Cami. The Ravelry link is here.
Yarn: Paton's Grace. Hot pink. 3 1/2 skeins.
Needles: #6 circular.
Modifications: I think I made this a little longer. Decreased some on the front armhole, and then did three rows of garter stitch. Picked up 12 stitches for the strap and decreased down to 6 stitches, knit in stst and then increased back to 12 on the back.

The back modifications I decreased heavily from the armhole split to pull the back in a little bit. The fit is really great on this. (And, yes, that's me modeling!)

A close-up of the pattern. It's very, very easy to memorize. And for me that's saying a lot as I like to write and mark off each row. This was super easy! Just took longer than I thought! (Thin yarn, small needles!)

Pattern: Cabled Rangoli Hat (pdf link to pattern here) from Adventures of a Desi Knitter.

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease in chestnut heather. One skein (with leftovers).

Needles: #7 for the ribbing and #8 for the body of the hat.

Modifications: One. Decreased down to 8 stitches on the top. Since this is a gift, for me, I would definitely make the ribbing a little longer. Very easy knit and a good looking hat! And it's very warm! (Try modeling a wool mix hat on a 100 plus degree afternoon!)

Hope everyone is having a great week!

You've Been Gone Too, Too Long

Well, it feels like it when I haven't posted in a while. A week seems like a long time now that summer has hit and the kids are home, baseball's done, swimming's begun and it's getting hot and hotter here!
I've finished the Razor Cami (and the pattern is actually here,when my photographer is able, I'll get some picts for you). It came out really nice. But it did take longer than I thought it would. A little fussy.
Now, I'm working on some hats (this one and this one {ravelry links}) for my friend C. in Colorado, and plotting/planning my next projects or planned projects (PP).
The first I'm thinking of is from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2005 and is simply titled: #11, Hooded Pullover. (I really, really wish the Vogue people would name the designs better! You'd think they could!) The designer is Norah Gaughan, so it appealed to me right away (and I'm talking in '05 when I first saw the issue, but was slightly intimidated by the lace -- not anymore!) I'm trying to figure out what yarn to use, though, so it might be awhile before that gets started. (Oh, yeah. There's a whole page of corrections on this one, if you're going to make it, go to the VK site and print out the correction!)
The second is from Interweave Knits Spring 2005 (I can't seem to get out of the year '05!) It's titled "A Good Bias". Here's the Ravelry link: here. And a tiny little picture here from the IK site.
I also like the #24, Lace Trim Bolero from the same VK issue. A Ravelry link: here.

So...as usual, lots to knit, but so little time in which to do them all! Hope you all have a great week!

Ode to June

I can't believe June is here already! What happened to May? Summer is here in full force in the desert! The days are starting toasty, but still somewhat cool when the sun goes down. Swimming lessons started today, so at least the kids get a little cooling off! Baseball is still going on, this week the Munchkin's (the oldest) team has the championship game for his division. His team has only lost 3 out of (I think) like 14 games (that's like an 11-3 record). So this past weekend they had the play-off games and won both of them. We'll see how they do on Wednesday! It's supposed to be hot this week, with the temps in the 100's (it's a dry heat, ha!), so I'll "pre-hydrate" him! (They still play in polyester pants! You'd think someone would invent/create a material that could breathe and still repel grass/red dirt stains.) The LittleOne has her last game on Saturday morning, so it'll still be somewhat nice!
Hope all are having a great day/evening/morning!

Later (this week, I hope) I'll have my Razor Cami to show you! (This is a Ravelry link. There's some issue with the pattern instructions, but at least you can get an idea of what I'm doing!)