Home Sweet Home

Hello!!

We are home!  Sorry I haven't written until now, but we have been trying to get adjusted to being back home again and get caught up on everything, like laundry and cleaning.  Today I'm baking some bread since we ran out while I was gone.  It's so nice to be home, but the time change is taking a bit of adjustment.  I want to go to bed in the middle of the afternoon and I keep waking up in the middle of the night! lol  I'm sure after about a week I should be right back on schedule. 

I've been trying to keep up with my Tour de Fleece goal of knitting or crocheting at some point each day now that I'm back.  Today I am working on the Granny Stripes Blanket.  It's coming along really nice and I find that its the perfect thing right now since it's super relaxing and uncomplicated.  How are your Tour de Fleece plans going?? 

Well, this is a short post, but I need to get the bread into the oven, so I hope you all have a lovely day!!

Much Love, xx

Colourful Granny Stripe

Hello!!

I have been trying to post about this for quite a while now, but it seemed like every time I began to write about it I would have something else to talk about that day, so now I am determined to write this post!  After I made the Granny Stripe Blanket back in the spring for the wedding gift, I knew I wanted to make one for myself.  The pattern is so soothing and fun to crochet and I really liked the bright colours that Lucy used in hers.  I wanted to use the same or similar yarn that she did, but couldn't find any.  Around the beginning part of May, I came across a company in the UK called Deramores that had free shipping to the US and they carried the Stylecraft Special DK!!!!!!  I was so excited that I placed an order practically in the middle of the night because that was when they re-stocked their colours with all the ones I needed!!  They arrived quite quickly, in about a week or two's time if I remember correctly.  I didn't start right away because I was trying to finish up some other projects, but I think I began the blanket the week before I went to Florida.  I keep it for my nighttime crochet right now because it's so easy to work on.  It's not too far along, I've got 17 rows done so far, but wow is it fun!!  I used the exact same 17 colours that Lucy did for hers, and you can find more information here on her blog.  As with the Hexie Blanket, I'm not pressuring myself to get this one done in a certain amount of time but am just savouring the process of working on it.  I think that's what I like most about making blankets - they're not something you rush through, but rather you enjoy the soothing process of making them.   

Have a great Tuesday everyone!!

Much Love, xx

My Own Granny Stripes Ta-Dah!!!!!!!

Hello,

I'm back from a lovely weekend of "getting-things-done" and spending a little quality time with my family.  I hope you all had a great weekend too and that your week is getting off to a good start.  Today was a jam-packed day filled with lots of fun and wonderful (even including some woolly) surprises - but more on that tomorrow as I have some pressing business to share with you all today. 

I finally finished the Granny Stripes Blanket!!!  Whaaaaa Whoooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I've fully (well mostly anyways) enjoyed my time working on this project and am so happy with how it turned out.....words cannot express how excited I am. 

So would you like to see a picture???
Are you excited too??
I sure hope so........
It's been a long time waiting hasn't it???? 
Feels like ages to me!! 
Here it is.........

My very own Ta-Dahhhhhhh Moment!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Now it's off to bed for me seeing as I have to work in the morning.

Thank you for sharing this thrilling moment with me!!

Good night, and see you again soon xx

Granny Stripes Progress

Hello Knitters,

A couple of days ago in the comments, my friend Suzanne asked to see some close-up pictures of the Granny Stripes Blanket and the colours of yarn I'm using.  The weather is finally cooperating with me so I could take some "true-to-colour" photos, so here they are!

The yarn is a combination of Red Heart Super Saver, and Comfort, TLC Essentials and Bernat Super Value.  Nothing fancy, just your average acrylic.  These are the colours starting from left to right in the above photo: RRSS -0886 Blue, RRSS - 0381 Lt. Blue, Red Heart Comfort - 3231 Purple, TLC Essentials -2332 Linen, RHSS -0385 Royal, RHSS -0505 Aruba Sea, Bernat Super Value -53114 Denim Heather, RHSS -0885 Delft Blue, RHSS -0313 Aran, Bernat Super Value -00616 Peacock, TLC Essentials -2855 Navy, RHSS -0347 Lt. Periwinkle. 

I'm just random striping it while trying to keep the strong colours sort of equally separated, so there's no big math involved.  I wanted to make it as easy as possible :)

I know in my last post I talked about a sneak peek of what I'm currently working on, but I just haven't been able to get a good enough picture of it yet.  It's nice and sunny here today, so maybe I'll get one yet! 

Happy Knitting and Hooking!!

WIP Wednesday - March 2

Hello Knitters,

I've only got one WIP this week - the Granny Stripe Blanket.  I've been spending all my time devoted to this lovely thing.  It's such a pleasure to crochet away on it.  I'm also really happy with how the colours are coming along.  I took the above picture today in the lovely sunshine we had this afternoon.  It's not quite big enough yet, but hopefully soon!! 

Sorry for the short post, but it's getting late and I need to get up early in the morning for a quick trip to the city so I should be getting to bed.  Have a great week everyone!

Happy Knitting and Hooking!!

P.S. Just to let you know, I'm not able to get on to Ravelry and reply to posts, upload pictures, or read or send messages for some reason.  So if you've sent me a message and I haven't replied, then that's why.  Hopefully things will be back to normal soon.   

WIP Wednesday - Feb 23

Hello Knitters,

First off I have to say a big THANK YOU! to all of you who have left such kind, encouraging, uplifting and just all around great comments on the blog lately.  You are all totally awesome!!  I've been unable to reply to comments with my regular laptop for some reason lately.  I actually can't even view my blog with it :(  But I wish I could so that I could reply to each one of you!  But do know that I read each comment and so enjoy them!!  I'm going to do a little more searching around and see if I can fix the problem.  In the meantime, I can from time to time comment back and see the blog from my Netbook, but it's a bit slower on the dial-up connection so I don't use it very often.  It's more of my traveling laptop really.  But I just wanted to let you all know that I do appreciate all the your kind words!!

I did want to answer Stephanie's question from yesterday about if I liked the Felici yarn though: Yes, Stephanie, I really, really like it!!  Both the fingering and sport weights are great.  They're super soft - so great to knit with and even better on your feet!  They (so far) wash great too, although I've only handwashed mine, but the label says it's machine washable and I've heard others have had great success with it.  What I like best is how I can do a plain vanilla sock and not get bored at all - watching the colours change is very fun!  lol  Small things amuse me :)  I'd highly recommend it though.  The fingering weight is a little thinner than their Stroll yarn and it's a more tightly spun yarn which I like because it means less splitting.  The sport weight is a bit thinner than other sport weights I've used and it's not as tightly spun as the fingering weight version, but it is super soft and makes great little baby items as well as quicker socks!  But this is all just my two cents worth :) lol 
Now, on to my little list of WIPs!!  This week I'm just trying to stick to the three projects and not get sidelined trying to finish up the other WIPs that keep being found all over the house.....  So far, I've done pretty good.  My list this week includes:

1. Granny Stripes Blanket - Since this is the biggest of all my projects, I think I need to devote a good chunk of my time to it to get it finished off before the wedding!  I can think of nothing worse than trying to finish this up on the plane!  They'd probably make me buy it it's own seat!  lol  It's coming along really well though and I'm really enjoying it, so that's great.  I find it incredibly relaxing to work on!

2. Galapagos Shawl - This got a good bit of time spent on it over the weekend and is getting pretty close to completion.  The colours are fantastic and the yarn is super soft to knit with.  I'm currently on the "knotted open-work" section right now.  The pattern is called Summer Flies.  I thought it was a very pretty and easy one, plus the butterflies kind of just drew me in....

3. Ishbel - Oh poor Ishbel!  She has been neglected over the last while.  I really need to seriously sit down and work on her since I'm planning on wearing her at the wedding.  That means I have about a month to finish her, but with the Pancake House opening soon, I will be super busy baking so that won't leave much time for knitting - meaning she has to get done within the very near future.  She might end up being my weekend knitting project.

That's it for my current WIPs.  My other ones are just sitting somewhat patiently by waiting for their turn.  In the meantime, I'm just going to keep plugging away on these and hopefully they will be featured on a Finished Project Friday post soon. 

Happy Knitting!!

Crochet Corner

Hello Knitters,

I'd like to share a picture of what I hope to turn into my own personal little crochet corner.  Doesn't it look like the most glorious place to hook away the afternoon in the sunshine?  I'm hoping to do just that over the next while as I work on the Granny Stripes Blanket.  There it is on the chair - if you can see it through the shadows.  I started it last night since I made myself do some more WIPs finishing over the weekend, so it's not very far along yet.  It's very soothing and relaxing and I'm so looking forward to watching it grow :)

Well that's all I've got for today.  I hope you all had a lovely weekend and that your week is off to a good start.  Mine is going great :)  Tomorrow I'm going to a do some bread baking in the morning and then probably spend the rest of the day working on the Granny Stripes.  Oh the joys of lazy pre-spring days!

Happy Knitting and Crocheting!! 

P.S. Knit Picks released their new colours of Felici, and Felici Sport if you're interested :)  They also launched a new yarn line called Aloft that's a kid mohair/silk blend - very pretty as well!  I'm super duper excited about these and can hardly wait to order, however, I'm holding myself back for a few days to see if any of the other "spring yarns" get some new colours too!! 

WIP Wednesday - Feb. 16

Hi Knitters,

This week I've been working on the Trekking Socks.  I have one done, and this is my progress so far on the second one.  I was hoping to have them both finished by now, but I think I over-estimated how long it would take me to knit them.  Sometimes I think I can knit faster than I really can....

 
This is the beginning of what is to be a Granny Stripe Blanket.  I'm making it for a sweet couple who's wedding I'm going to at the beginning of April out in San Diego.  I just purchased the yarn today and I plan on starting it some time tomorrow.  It will be my first full-sized afghan!  I spent last night drooling over all the gorgeous ones on Ravelry, and if this one turns out well, I want to make one for myself in lots of bright colours.  I can't think of a better spring crochet project than something colourful and sunny!

Since both projects are on the bigger side, I've decided to just keep my current WIPs at two instead of three, that way I can focus on them and get them done quicker.  And I have less chance of getting overwhelmed. 

I hope everyone is having a great week.  We are enjoying warm and sunny weather here right now (43 F here today!).  I'm trying to take in every bit of it while it lasts since they're calling for cooler temps again for the weekend.  It sure felt like spring out there today though, so it does give one hope! 

Happy Knitting!!