Shark Week 2017!

Another year of Shark Week, another shark-themed project to tackle (pun intended). Jimmy Beans Wool had a limited release of the Shark Bait colorway and stitchmarkers and the pattern I'm planning to tackle is by Lara Smoot. She designed the Jaws socks I knit last year as well as the Fright Night socks I made.

Little Man is ready for Shark Week too!!

Fiber Souvenirs!

When you have serious luggage constraints you can't get too crazy with fiber purchases while you're traveling...but I did manage to bring home some fun yarn!

When we were visiting Muenster I came across a great little yarn shop in the main shopping area downtown. I found the needles I needed quickly and there were baskets of sock yarn ripe for the picking! I picked the two that stood out from the rest and was on my way feeling good that I didn't have everyone waiting too long for me!

During our layover in Iceland I was in for a surprise...yarn at the airport! It was so squishy and beautiful! We hardly had enough time to use the rest room and make it to our next gate, but we stopped at the gift shop when I saw piles of yarn and handknits hanging up...I would have loved a sweater kit, but they didn't have any and I didn't have enough time to figure out how much yarn to buy so like a complete fiber-obsessed maniac I grabbed a cute little hat kit! It has the yarn for the hat and a pattern and I think it will definitely whet my appetite for more Icelandic knitting!

Have you ever seen yarn in an airport to buy?

Beginning of Our 2017 Germany Trip

After our fun family visit in PA we drove to the airport in Baltimore. We had dinner at the airport before our evening flight to first Iceland and then Frankfurt.

We flew on WOW Air for the first time and made sure to load our iPads with movies and books for the flight since the plane wouldn't have in-flight entertainment. We also packed snacks and ate at the airports since the food offerings are small and not included. Little Man had no problem occupying himself, and was excited to fly again.

Everything went smoothly until we hit issues with our rental car. First they did not have the car we had reserved. We wound up with an Opel station wagon and as we were about 45 minutes away we had to call and tell them we needed to switch cars because the air conditioning didn't work. We turned around and were 10 minutes away from the airport when we were hit by a truck. Then we had to wait for the police, drive and deal with the paperwork for the car (the rental office wanted us to pay for the totaled car).

Above is the first rental car and below is the truck that hit us.

After the car debacle it took us HOURS to get to my host family's house (we ended up in rush hour traffic), so we didn't get there until much later than we had planned. We were able to sit and spend time with my host father and then eat a pizza dinner before going to bed. We slept until the next afternoon (eek!) and had brunch. We spent time with my host parents and then that evening we drove to the Market Square and had dinner with my host father's sister. We grilled out on the balcony overlooking the square and it was so delicious (Lora owns a butcher shop so she REALLY knows her way around meat). Little Man made fast friends with her dog Paulie, and we all had a great time talking and eating.

The next day we headed to the all weather pool, which was a stop Little Man had requested because he loved it so much last time.

We spent a few hours swimming inside and out and I also went to the sauna and relaxed a bit looking at the garden through a panoramic window...it was a great afternoon.

Later, my host father made a breaded pork chop meal with bleu cheese and preserves with a side of spaetzle...Little Man and Hubby were so impressed!

Little Man and I spent time exploring the backyard...

...he was especially excited to find sticks he could whittle with his new knife from my host father...

...and I walked around seeing what was the same and what had changed...

...there weren't many changes, even the shed that's used for socializing looked pretty much the same.

We also went to the grocery store.

And went walking in the village of Suttrop where my host parents live.

Little Man and Hubby loved the view of the town of Warstein below with the windmill and cows just a 10 minute walk from the house. This path is where they tried to teach me to ride a bike (unsuccessfully) many years ago...I showed Little Man how the path is bordered by prickly bushes.

When we stopped at an outdoor museum for mining we saw this great yarn bomb!

And then it was time for a real German treat...a meal of white asparagus (it was asparagus season, happily)...with boiled potatoes, ham and hollandaise sauce or melted butter. It's a favorite German meal of mine, and was devoured by Little Man and Hubby!

I still have so much to share about our trip!

Yarn Ball Craziness

I am soooo embarrassed to show this yarn. I have been in a major declutter mode and I went through my craft room. Yes, my CRAFT ROOM. I downsized QUITE a lot of yarn. Like, seriously a lot. It all went to a good home (my grandmother-in-law) so it felt pretty good. I'm sure she will enjoy it and I was able to part with yarn that wasn't bringing me any joy. Well, I came across this huge ball of yarn that I purchased back when I was a knitting newbie (yikes, about 9 or 10 years ago). It came with a learn to knit DVD and was in a cardboard carton that you could knit directly from (there was a hole to feed the yarn through and a carry handle).

Well, as you can imagine I've learned quite a few things over the years. I had originally never used it because I needed a great project for so much yardage. But then, as I'm reading the label I notice that it says it's 400+ yds of yarn. WHAT?!?! That's like a sock skein! Wait a minute... and I used my finger to kind of shove yarn aside to see...a BIG ASS foam ball. Dang!

SO I wound up the yarn into a new, foam-free ball and would you LOOK at the size difference? And that big ol' ball of yarn has been sitting around all this time! Well, no more...it will look AMAZING, in Christmas socks, don't you think?? With the festive, glittery red? 

FFFRRRROOOOGGGG

With my change in employment status (working for myself vs a steady paycheck) I've really needed to cut spending in a lot of areas. One specific area that has seen a drastic cut is craft supplies. A funny thing has come from that. I decided that ROSEmund, that I knit in 2013, needed to be reknit. It never fit properly and because of that I never wore it. So....I frogged it. And I'm going to knit it again and hopefully get it right!  So, I'm reusing the yarn, and I'll get to enjoy knitting with it again! 

Socks to Share!

What has happened to me?!? I think it all started with those Christmas socks and now I can't get enough. Besides the obvious benefit of using fabulous yarn, I love how convenient they are to tote around. And they knit up so fast! And the patterns are so fun to watch appear!

These socks are the SO popular Monkey pattern knit in Malabrigo yarn. They are so delicious on my toes! Soft and cozy, and the color is so gorgeous!

These socks are the Zigtagular Socks knit in yarn I had left after making a pair of little slippers. The yarn was from Sock Yarn Cinema and it was from the Titanic month...the colorway is called "Heart of the Ocean"...love it!!! These are super comfy too!!! I kind of thought of waves when I saw the zig-zag...so the pattern went well with the yarn!

Christmas Eve Socks Finished!

I have officially gotten on the sock bandwagon. I enjoyed making these socks SO much. I used the How I Make My Socks pattern by Susan B Anderson and they could not have been easier. I can't be sure, but I think it was the stripes that really kept me motivated. Every few rows they changed colors like magic. And the yarn felt so good to work with...smooth and squishy.  Definitely want to use more Desert Vista Dyeworks yarn again! And these socks? They'll be in my drawer waiting for next Christmas!!

My Italian Knitting Project

Yes, I took knitting with me all the way to Italy.  I had grand plans to take my knitting around and take photos with places like the Colosseum and the Grand Canal in the background. Yeah, that didn't happen. For one, we were constantly on the go and I wasn't trying to carry around anything extra. Plus, I was too busy trying to take it all in (and photograph everything so I'd never forget it). 

I had found the perfect yarn too. When I saw it I thought of the movie 'Under the Tuscan Sun'...and frescoes.  I ordered it from Gynx yarns right around when we booked the trip...and thought immediately of what I could make with it.

I did manage to knit a bit in the evenings at our hotels when I was trying to wind down.  I also was able to knit while we traveled through the countryside by bus. It was a great way to spend the trip...looking at the scenery as it passed and working on a relaxing project I've made a few times before...a pair of Ripple Sock Slippers.

By the time we came home I had 3/4 of a slipper done.  I've been enjoying working on them.

Little Skein Cuteness Overload!

I think most knitters at some point see a yarn that they just MUST have! It's either the feel or the color that turns us into Gollum saying MY PRETTY and needing it before they're even positive about what they are going to use it for. Fortunately when I saw this yarn dyed by Gynx I knew immediately what I wanted to make with it. Though it was designed to knit up a striped bunny, the colors spoke to me like the colors of the Caribbean.  The blue and the sandy colors spoke to me...and I saw the yardage would be just enough to make a little pair of slipper socks, which I just love!

Now, the yarn is dyed for the kit, and I love the pattern and the extras that came with it...so I ordered the kit from Little Skein in the Big Wool with the intention to use other yarn I have for the bunny (I would prefer a solid color bunny) and almost jumped up and down when my little package of cute perfection arrived on my doorstep.

The packaging is always perfect from Little Skein, from before you even open the box!

And then inside was the yarn, pattern, stitch markers in a cute tin, and embroidery floss on a wooden floss holder.

Be warned...if you knit and you love cute you may want ALL THE THINGS if you head to Little Skein's site...right now she has Secret Garden theme kits...including a yarn bowl with a garden painted on the inside....SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

Baby Denim Progress

 

Have you ever seen one of those projects that is SOOO cute you just have to make it figuring you'll figure out who to give it to later? Well, that's how I felt the first time I saw the Knitty pattern Blu.  Yes, I spelled that correctly.  Baby jeans knit with denim yarn by Rowan that fades like real jeans! Oh the cuteness!  I'm waiting for an old co-worker of mine to be ready to cast-on a project that we thought we'd knit together as a sort-of mini-KAL, and thought I'd work on these until she's finished.  Above is the first half.  I'm making the 12-24 month size...they have the waist band turns knit in where eventually elastic will go.  Apparently the yarn shrinks in hot water (purposely) so you knit them longer than needed.  I was also warned that the dark blue yarn in the colorway Indigo would rub off on my hands...but was still surprised when it did....they were a lot worse on one of my previous evenings of knitting!  I have another piece just like the one above to knit and then the rest is finishing.  One tricky technique? Dropping all the stitches below stitch 30 and then picking them all back up again alternating one stitch then two and so on to create a faux seam...I almost had heart palpitations that I'd mess up and have to start from the beginning!

I Haven't Shown You These!

I noticed that I finished quite a few projects faster than I kept up with blogging about them!

But first, I just had to share that I bought a skein of yarn online from More Yarn and I was really impressed with their fabulous service.  First off, for an extra dollar they wound the skein for me...TOTALLY AWESOME...they packaged it nicely, and attached a cute little bag of Jelly Belly jelly beans...I would definitely order from them again.

As a thank-you for my Mom, I pulled out another unique lighthouse "card" idea that I originally saw here.  I cut it with my trusty Silhouette cameo...and then, after learning some new settings to get everything to cut correctly...I found the tea light that totally makes the project.  I didn't fill it with anything, but you could if you wanted.

My sister-in-law started a new job and I made her a theme card to congratulate her.

I used the remnants of the yarn from the Tulip Cardigan (see it below) to make a granny square and then picked up around it log cabin-style with a royal purple to make a lap blanket that matches the cardigan.  The little bits of yarn were just too pretty not to use for something!!

For the end of Little Man's school year I made his teacher a desk card filled with office supplies and candy...if it looks familiar it's because I made one like it last year! It was definitely easier with the scoring board to help square the main pieces.

The Silhouette Cameo was definitely busy as I took on this cute card made to look like a fishing tackle box for Father's Day for Hubby.

And I looked at my queue on Ravelry and decided it was time to take on the Pure and Sweet Layette by Susan B Anderson (the designer of Itty Bitty Hats).

I used bells inside the bunny rattle so it makes noise, but it's just a cute jingle sound.

I decided to make a pinwheel blanket instead of the blanket included.  I used the same gray from the bunny scarf to knit the leaf edging on the blanket.

I think we're all caught up now!