Sewing and stripes

I am through the garter stitch stripes on my Lilli Pilli shawl! The rainbow is there...and now there are only forty rows of beaded lace left to go. Ha! Checking my Ravelry page I saw that I started it in May of last year so there is potential that it will be finished within a year. That would be a pretty good record for me for things that I have knitted for myself.

I had sewing day yesterday and I was able to accomplish quite a bit! I put the borders on a small baby quilt and pieced the back so it is ready to be quilted. I am really happy with it! The fabric is very cute without being baby-ish and girly without being pink.

I also finished this quilt top. It needs a border, which means a shopping trip, but I am happy with it.  I had the patterned charm squares in my stash for a long time and I thought this simple quilt would be a good use for them. I am hoping to find something orange or green for the border which means Lucy will have to stay at home. She was already quite disappointed that the blue squares weren't pink...apparently everything should be pink if you ask her.

I have quite a few projects on the needles but nothing that is in a grab and go state.  I am hoping to remedy that tonight so I have something to knit while out and about with the kids this week. Hopefully everyone had a great weekend!

Needles and hooks

I have been knitting quite a bit! I am almost through the stockinette stripes on my lilli pilli shawl and I am very happy with how it is turning out. It is going to be quite large and I am not sure what I will do with it when it is finished, but the garter stitch stripes are making me happy. 

I have also made some forward progress on Weston's gansey. I am about to join the welts and start working in the round. The other day Sawyer was helping me vacuum and I heard a noise. I asked him to shut off the vacuum and came to investigate. What I found was not pretty. My knitting had been left on the floor and got sucked into the rollers. 

My new addi sock rocket needle was shaped like a hook! Sawyer was upset and thought he was in trouble. I assured him he did nothing wrong and it was my own fault for leaving my things out. It also proved a good lesson for why things shouldn't be left on the floor. I was able to get a new needle from my LYS that night and got everything fixed. 

Hopefully I continue to make progress and can remember to put my things away!

Happy knitting!

A long January

Whew! Finally getting around to updating again after a long break. We had a wonderful trip to Hawaii. It was amazing to just relax and hang out with Weston for six days. Not having to take anyone else to the bathroom or feed anyone else was just simply delightful.  I didn't get as much knitting done as I thought I would, but I enjoyed doing nothing. That isn't something I am normally good at, but it was nice.  I made a lot of progress on my Lilli Pilli shawl, I am now half way through the 100-row garter stripe section.  After that I have another small lace section, which I am sure will slow me down, but I am excited to have this finished! It will probably be the fanciest thing I have ever knitted for myself.

We also did a few tourist-y things.  We went and played mini-golf, visited a goat farm, and a vodka farm.  The tour of the vodka farm was very interesting and I learned a lot! If you are ever in Maui, be sure to stop by the Ocean Vodka farm as it is a fun little outing.

I have finally started on Weston's Gansey again. Nothing like knitting on a deadline! I really hope it works out this time because I am not sure I have it in me to knit it a third time. (Not that I knit the whole sweater the first time, but I knit enough to be quite annoyed at myself for having to reknit it.)

Hopefully I will have more beautiful knitting to share with you soon! Keep those needles clicking!

Making progress

I have been knitting quite a bit.  Mostly on Sawyer's sweater, as every time he sees it he asks if it will be done "tomorrow" because "I love sweaters Mom!". I am almost ready to attach the bottom of the pocket, then I have about 3 inches of knitting left. Then the collar and the sleeves. So, still a lot...but less than there was last month!

The other knitting project that has been occupying my time is a test knit for my friend, Brittany (bohoknitterchic on Revelry, check out her designs here).  It is a bias knit shawl and the pattern should be published soon. I am loving my color combo! It is a fun knit, easy enough to do while the kids are up, interesting enough to want to work on when they are asleep...I keep finding myself thinking "just four more rows" so I can change colors again. 

I am struggling with trying to decide what knitting to take on my trip. We are going to Hawaii at the end of the month (just Weston and I!) and I will need plenty to keep me busy. It's a long flight, and then six days without kids....ahhhh, the luxury! 

I have also been doing some sewing, although I have no pictures to show. One weekend Weston took Sawyer and the dogs out camping, so Lucy and I had the run of the house. I had her help me sew a charm square quilt.  We were able to finish all of the blocks, but I still need to do a bit more before I sew the top together. It is a cute quilt, lots of pinks and flowers. 

Hopefully I can continue to make good progress on everything!

Happy Knitting

Year end round up

I had a great knitting year. I finished 32 (!) projects. If you are on Ravelry, here is a link to see my projects.

Here is a quick round up of what I knit:

14 hats
5 cowls
2 blankets (one was crocheted)
4 pairs of mittens
1 shawl
2 toys
1 doll blanket
1 pair of slippers
2 sweaters

So, clearly hats are still my favorite thing to knit.  I actually wound yarn to knit two hats today. HA! I am really hoping to finish 16 projects this year (last years goal was 15) but I know I have some bigger projects on the needles that I need to finish.  Weston's sweater (an adult sweater in fingering weight yarn...), a few sweaters for Sawyer (that kid is getting bigger), and at least one blanket. I have the yarn for three I think....so one of them should get finished.

Not only did I wind yarn to knit two hats, I also bought yarn to knit Sawyer some Spider-Man mittens.  Hopefully those go quickly and he gets to wear them this winter. The weather here has been terrible. We had a white Christmas but a few days later it started raining and it basically hasn't stopped. Between the wind and the rain, the kids still need hand knits to stay warm, so hopefully I can whip out these cool new mittens quickly.

I should have some quilts to share soon.  I am almost finished with the top for a baby quilt for my SIL.  And Lucy and I spent the day working on sewing a charm square quilt.  That should go together quickly.  I also fell victim to the recent Craftsy sale and bought a kit for a fox quilt and a quilt for Sawyer.  That should be here soon! Yea!

One last thing to share. I did spend the week before Christmas sewing the kids pjs for Christmas Eve. It was a few late nights, but it was totally worth it.

Snow and knitting

It's been a while. I kept thinking I would get better pictures of my finished projects, but I haven't so...oh well. It has been a great month here so far. I actually got our advent calendar up and in use! I love it.  The mittens look so cute hanging on the wall and I have been planning it for about four years, so it is nice to finally see it happening.

The kids alternate who gets to hang a mitten every morning and when all the clips are full the next day will be Christmas. I have been knitting a lot, some of which I can't share because it is gift knitting, but some that I can because it is for ME! I love rainbows. I am knitting a rainbow blanket for the couch, but it just wasn't going fast enough for my taste. And Knit Picks had a sale....so I whipped up this over Thanksgiving. 

It makes me so happy to see this draped over the couch all day and cuddle up with it at night. It was knit with the new super bulky Knit Picks wool, Tuff Puff. So far it has held up well and kept me nice and warm. I have also whipped out a hat for Sawyer (which he claims is itchy...apparently he doesn't care for alpaca) and a pair of mittens for Lucy. 

I have plenty of projects to keep my needles busy. I still have one gift to finish, and a few mini mittens to knit up to finish the advent calendar. I also have yarn to knit about five different hats. Ha! I apparently have a hat knitting problem. I also have a sweater started for Sawyer that need attention. And Weston's sweater...which I have to redo all the math for, but have decided on a gage and needle size, so that is a step in the right direction. 

Knitting isn't the only thing that has been keeping me busy. We have had a lot of fun Christmas events going on around town.  This weekend was Breakfast with Santa and it was a blast. It was Candy Land themed this year and there was a life sized Candy Land board on the floor of the cafeteria where the kids could play. It has also snowed a lot this week! YEA! I woke up this morning to close to a foot of snow which is awesome. I love winter (when there is snow) so I was quite happy to walk the dogs in a winter wonderland this morning!

Alright, back to knitting. Stay warm!

December!

Wow. How is it already December? Thankfully, I am almost finished with my holiday knitting! Pictures of that will have to wait, but I have some other things to share today. When Sawyer was born I decided I wanted to knit an advent calendar. A few years later, I gathered the yarn to knit it, and last year I actually started it! I found the pieces when I was looking for something else the other day and was inspired to get it finished this year! This is what I have so far:

I still need to knit a few mittens, but the plan is to hang one every day, which gives me time. I finally got the string all finished and the kids and I will hang it after school. Pictures next time, as I found the cutest snowman ribbon and mini clothes pins to use. 

In knitting news, I finished a pair of mittens for my SIL, and should be able to finish Sawyer's Christmas hat today. I did also finish the crochet blanket I was working on. It lives on my couch and cheers me up every time I see it. 

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We spent it in a cabin, which was fun! There was a deck of Uno cards so we played for a while and I read the kids the first book in the Magic Treehouse series. A good time was had by everyone. Now back to holiday knitting....more pictures next time!