Stuff

While waiting for the days to reach June 9th, when the World Cup begins, I need to make some adjustments into my attitude of vest making. I must hurry up and decide on the process. I only have 12 full days to finish anything that is due before the CGOA summer show.

Granddaughter came over last night. I was showing her mom some yarns that I could use to make a summer dress for the little lady. She picked "peacock" by Patons Grace. Later into the
evening all of us decided to get a little package togeter for the new baby (born May 18th), and I said to my hubby that I had already started a blanket for the baby. This little man is the brother to our other granddaughter, who had her two-year birthday yesterday.

Early this morning hubby and I went to downtown. I got out of the car just before Romni store, to go and see if I could find some other yarn for the little summer dress, since I had decided this morning that Grace yarn was too thick. It would make a dress that was too warm. I found some nice cotton yarn, in the basement, but it's not suitable for this particular dress that I have in my mind. Of course I had to go and see what else was available in this humangous store, full of yarn and thread. I found a nice cotton and nylon mix yarn, made by Bernat, called "cool crochet". The color wasn't the most exciting on the skein, but my vision of a ready made dress told me differently. The color on the chart from the link isn't anything like the yarn I have on the skein. It has brown, beige and two shades of pink.

As soon as we got home from downtown, I dug out the blanket and started finishing it off. It's a MAM (mile-a-minute) baby blanket. The most simple pattern I can think of. I know that many of my friends don't even want to think about MAM blankets, but I find them relaxing and easy to make. Except now, when I want to have it done, so I can start on the dress for our granddaughter.

Then I have to work on the vest, which now has been sitting in the basket, looking totally rejected. What happened to my butterfly? The thread is staring at me from the pile of WIPs, the salmon color on top of some of the MAM strips.

Knitting World Cup

Now I've done it! I have joined the challenge for the World Cup Knitting.

OOPS.

I need to find the time to make a vest for hubby with blue and white team colors.

There was a nice pattern in the web, for a Tennis vest. Well, if I have anything to say about it,
it's going to be a soccer vest. Just try to stop me. Of course, if anyone knows me at all, I will definitely change something on the pattern. Only because this is NOT a tennis creation.

Now I must finish the butterfly (butterflies), the vest for the show, and some other started projects.

I have to find all my wrist supports, Ben Gay, Aleeve, Tylenol and lots of hours in the day/night.
The challenge begins on June 9th.

I can do this, I knitted a felted laptop bag for the Olympics, didn't I? (Finished Feb. 26th).

Butterfly fever

I am in the mood to crochet butterflies.
Saw this little creature in someone's web site, sorry, forgot where, and
now I want to make it. Of Course.
All I know is that there was no pattern for this.

Picture of my dysfunctioned dragonfly

If "dysfunctioned" is not a word from the adjective group, it goes well with my poor dragonfly that has not come out from it's cocooon. (have the check how that process goes).

Coaster lead to a butterfly

because.......I made a coaster from Ferosa's "Learn to Cro-Tat" -book.

I know some cro-tatting but not enough to be an expert, HAHA. After that, I was eyeing a butterfly doily, in the same book, and decided that it was way too much crotatted stitches for me at the moment.

I made just the butterfly. Good for me!
Ferosa has a dragonfly pattern in that same book, and of course I had to try that one, too. I was able to make the left side, wooohooo, BUT, how to get to the other side. My thread skein was too large to poke thru the loops. The dragonfly has now become a UFO. Not even a WIP. Maybe a whip, because it bothers me, that I was so excited about the dragonfly, and I couldn't finish it.

But, no fear my friends. I have a solution to this problem. My next attempt for the dragonfly is using embroidery floss, the one that is twisted, not the one that has trillion strands of thread. I tried with a fancy, Italian, expensive cotton thread last night, and it split like a school of fish in front of a shark. Yep, imagine that. Where was I? Yes, the flooosy floss comes in nice skinny skeins (?) and I can imagine would be easy to pull thru a loop that is created in the dragonfly project.

BTW, my GD was at the Zoo, and found Nemo.

In the mood for IC

Seems to me that I am really hooked on Irish Crochet.

I am supposed to make a vest of some sort to wear at the show in July. Supposed...hmm, my own idea, nobody expects it from me, just me. It will not be an impossible task, since I have already started, BUT, I get off the subject all the time, just like when I talk. Must be one of my better qualities.

Here is the result of the efforts from last night and this morning. I also made a chain with Clones Knots, but forgot to include it with the motifs.

Oh, my IC method isn't really "correct" since I tend to use like size 5 thread, instead of that thin, what size? 40 - 60 -100 or something!!!! nosireebobby. (where did that expression come from?)

Those motifs are fun to make, but I am still very slow, specially when I use the padding cord. And then I need coffee breaks, look for other threads, look at the books, and then get back to crocheting. I don't have a time limit for my new found interest. I am just enjoying the process.

My next step is to learn to join the motifs the "correct" way, not how I would, just sew them on top of a mesh. Have to think about that one for a bit.

Wind and Rain

But we went to the park anyway. We go, sometimes, to get a coffee at Tim's and then go to a nearby park to either take pictures or just sit at the table, drink the coffee and go home.

We did it today, too, although the wind was strong, it was raining off and on, and the air was cool.

I was wearing a nice, crocheted sweater that my friend Sherri gave me. It fits me perfectly and I love the color, too. What a nice gal!

Two birds in the little pond in the park.

Found in my stash

Looking for Grace yarn in several boxes this morning, the knitting, UFO, jumped at me.

For the few minutes, at my lunch, I had to think what was the stitch and how often and when, etc. do those little tricks, but I think I got it.

If only I could remember where the pattern is. This UFO is old, I bought the yarn at WOOLCO.

some of you might not even know what Woolco was. Haha.

Paisleys again

I have been making some paisleys in the past few nights. Not many, because Grey's Anatomy has been on, season finales, you know, on Sunday and on Monday. Wow.

Tonight is the season finale for 24, I think, and that will mean that I will be crocheting some more paisleys, or crocheting around the butterfly, which ever will interest me more. Just to take my eyes off the tv screen, since hubby is going to watch it, for sure. I cannot take all that
excitement, and I can't stand it when they think all is good and done, and something happens and all is back to danger again. Ok, so I'll crochet something that takes all my concentration. haha.

Here are some paisleys I made for an exchange thingy. There should be one more picture, but the black doesn't show all the details.

The paisleys on this one look brown, but they are black. I don't have the fancy photoshop program on this computer, so I can't fix the colors the way I want. Oh, well, this basic program has to do for now.

Book Finds

I had a strange urge to go out and check a bookstore in a nearby mall. I wanted to buy a Debbie MaComber book about knitting, but there was none. I did find three or four other books of hers, but didn't want them. I have read both books, the Shop and the Yarn, but I can't find my copy of the Good Yarn. I have the knitting pattern book that goes with the Good Yarn, but would like to get my hands on both books.

Then I walked to a dollar store to buy the wrapping paper and a bow for the wedding gift that I had made. I had to make my selection quickly because I had only a few minutes left to get back to work. I walked back by the bookstore, again, and remembered a diet book that I had seen somewhere "French Women Don't Get Fat" by Mireille Guiliano. Let's see how much this will help me.

Very fittingly I am listening to Ginette Reno, right now, singing in French. Of course I understand nada, but she has a nice voice and nice songs.

I almost forgot to mention the book that the friendly girl in the bookstore found for me:
Knitting Yarns and Spinning Tales. I don't spin, other than sometimes outside, when I want to be foolish and childlike, I spin around and then get all dizzy. I wonder how the yarn spinning feels. I am not sure why I bought that book, but since it was about knitting, I figured I could relate to that.

After finishing the coat, I have felt lost, and have not been able to even have startitis (word invented by Sherri). Ok, I tried to make some paisleys, but it was not joyful, because my mind was not with them.

However, yeah, this morning, finally, I got the bug again, I dug out the Grace yarn and anything else that was in that bag, or in those bags. I am determined to make a free form vest or top or something for when I go to Philly in July.

Here is the start (I made this butterfly over a year ago)
I will find a way to crochet around it. Somehow.

There is one lady on leave and two on vacation, and nobody else makes coffee in this place. Oh, well, when I make it, it's always too strong, but today I really don't care. I must go and make coffee, for me. The stronger the better. And it's good for me.

I am having true coffee withdrawal attacks...Headache, yes, it's from the lack of caffeine, and I thought it was the loud voices from another office earlier this morning.

Coat is done

I finished the main features on Monday night, and finished some yarn endings and blocking last night. IT'S DONE, ready to wear on Saturday!

I'm all set to party!






This is the purse that goes with the rest of me. The color isn't "matching" with the coat, but
it has to go with the rest of the package...me. I am not really a flower kind of person, but the flowers on the purse aren't really that flowery, right!

Spring Breeze Square

This is a square that is now done at Crochet-along group. It's from Priscilla's patterns.

I used, once again, Red Heart Comfort yarn, in soft white, and this square is exactly 8", which is perfect for our TH charity squares.

Oh, and I could not sleep, so I had to do something, right?

Go to sleep.

Pineapple throw

It's getting there...where? It's almost done, and the wedding isn't until the mid May. I am very relieved. It's 52" x 52", and that to me is a good size, because I am tired of making more squares at the moment. The throw took one ball plus of Red Heart Comfort. The ball is 1000 gr.

I started the square with Panda's Pineapple square, but got carried away, and started my own road later on, after I was comfortable with the pineapple method.