Winners and an Update in Words Only

Happy Monday,

Thank you everyone for participating in the giveaway!  I picked the winners this morning and have notified them by Ravelry message.  Congratulations to Clobelle, PurlingPenny, Renee W, and Kepanie!!  This was great fun, we will have to do it again!

I thought I'd do a few updates today, and since I don't have any photos to share right now, this will all be in words only.  Sorry about that.  First up, I finished my Whippoorwill shawl.  I still need to block it, but the knitting is done.  I've been putting it off because I'm a little intimated about getting the edging to lay correctly.  I've enlisted Mom to help me with that.  I am really very happy with it from what I can tell pre-blocking though.  I also crocheted a beautiful wrap over the weekend using Knit Picks Aloft.  I was so pleased with both the stitch pattern and the yarn.  I think the two were the perfect combination.  After having this turn out so well I wanted to crochet more lace, so I started another shawl using Patons Lace in a pretty pink/brown combo.  It's coming along well although I have to think about the patterning a little more than I did with the Aloft wrap.  I've also started a Stripe Study shawl for my Mom today.  I'm using a light purple and a dark blue that Mom picked out.  I have to say they look great together.  I'll try to snap a picture tomorrow.  We were having lovely weather today, hot and sunny, but then an unexpected summer thunderstorm popped up and it's been pouring rain and quite dark out - not ideal picture taking weather.

I also started my Beret for Emma Woodhouse that's part of the kit and knit-along from the Knitting with Jane Ravelry Group.  I chose to do mine in Highbury, which is this gorgeous deep rich blue.  I thought it would look nice with my blonde hair.  I've done a repeat and a half so far of the lace and I'm thrilled with it.  The yarn is so bouncy and a treat to knit.  I bought the other two colours as well, Hartfield - a beautiful medium pink, and The Seaside - a stunning yellow.  I'm not sure what projects I'm going to make with them yet, but I'm already looking forward to working with the yarn.  These colours were specifically dyed for the Knitting with Jane kits but the base yarn is Annie Sock and you can order that from the Annie & Co. Shop in some other very luscious colours.  I have the Robin's Egg in the Shalom sock, and it's so pretty, I know it would be amazing in this base as well.  Everything this company does is top notch, I have been so pleased with all the things I've ordered from them.

In more Jane Austen-type news, we are doing a read-along and optional knit-along over on the Itty-Bitty Knits Group.  We are reading Emma right now and having a good time discussing the book and the movies as well as our projects.  The knit-along pattern is the Happily Ever After Mitts.  I'm not taking part in the knit-along this time because I've got a lot of other things on the go right now, but I've knit these mitts before and they are a great pattern, I highly recommend it.  I'm thinking about trying to read through some of Jane Austen's books over the summer, so you'll be sure to hear more about it and see some Jane-type projects pop up.  I've got my eye on a few from both issues of Jane Austen Knits magazine....

In family news, we celebrated my sister's birthday over the weekend.  Happy Birthday sis!!  It was fun to get a chance to visit with her and my brother-in-law since we have all been busy lately and don't get to see each other as much as we'd like.  Also, Bingley is doing very well fitting in and has been getting along with the other animals.  He had a run-in with Cassie and ended up beating her up a bit.  However, I do have to say that she had it coming since she ate all his food, twice in one afternoon.  Now that that's over with, they seem to be getting along pretty well.  I think he's still trying to figure out his place in the family, but everything is getting better each day.  I'm so happy to report that because he has won over my heart and I hope to have him with us forever.

Two more things to share and then I will end this rather long post.  One is I've joined the Itty-Bitty Knits Ravelympics team and I'm so excited about participating!  I haven't picked out my projects yet but I've been thinking about doing the Color Affection Shawl and then committing to knitting a hexipuff a day for my Bee Keeper's Quilt (which I have yet to start, maybe this week).  How does that sound?  Any other suggestions or ideas??  The second thing is I've also joined the Itty-Bitty's Tour de Fleece group and I'm planning on sewing for 30 minutes each day of the tour.  I've been wanting to get myself back to sewing and I thought this would give me the perfect motivation and focus that I need.  Now all I have to do is clean out my studio in the basement so I can keep my machine all set up....I must mention that I'm not big on cleaning or putting things away, which is how the room got to be the disaster that it is right now.  I'm really going to make an effort to keep it clean once I get it that way this time though, if it's possible, I think the mess has scared me into being a put-away-er.

Anyways, that's all for today, rather long-winded but thanks for sticking with me.  I should be back tomorrow with a hexagon update.  In the meantime I'm off to work a few stripes on Mom's shawl,
xoxo

Blogiversary and 400th Post Giveaway

Hello,

I was planning on posting about this giveaway yesterday but before I knew it, the day had gotten away from me.  Bingley the cat is starting to fit in nicely at our house, although interactions between all the animals still requires supervision, which doesn't leave me with much time to get online.  Mom has been busy planting her gardens and flowerpots the last few days, so I've been the main supervisor while she's outside.  I don't mind though, I've been able to get some knitting done when they are sleeping.  I'm now on the final rows of my Whippoorwill.  Yay for nap-times!!  It's funny because I feel like I'm babysitting the animals as I would little children - making sure they get along, stay out of trouble, don't hurt themselves or each other, entertain them, feed them, etc.  It's been good practice for when I have my own kids!  Anyways, enough about all that, on to the giveaway!  Since I recently celebrated my 3rd year blogiversary and 400th post, I wanted to do something to thank all my wonderful readers.

I'm going to pick 4 lucky winners at random and they will be able to choose a pattern from one of these great designers:
Susan B. Anderson
Anna Hrachovec of Mochimochi Land
Veera Välimäki
SpillyJane

To enter leave a comment at the bottom of this post with your Ravelry id.  The giveaway is open until 11:59 PM (EST) Sunday June 10, 2012, I will post the winners on Monday and gift the patterns to your Ravelry inbox.  This is open to anyone who has a Ravelry account, if you don't have one yet, I highly recommend it, Ravelry is the best thing since sliced bread!

Good luck to you all!!
xoxo

One-a-Day Tuesday

Hello,

Here is my progress from the last week on the Hexagon blanket.  I have to confess that I haven't been working on one-a-day like I planned, but I do make sure to have all 7 of them done before Tuesday's post.  It's still progress right?

xoxo

Slightly Healthy Banana Muffins

Hello,

We always seem to have leftover over-ripe bananas hanging around our kitchen so I thought I'd come up with a good recipe that had a few extra healthy ingredients in them.  My Dad can be picky when it comes to things like whole wheat and flax so I thought sneaking them into some muffins was a good way to get them into his diet.  I hope you enjoy them!!

Makes 12 regular-size muffins

Ingredients:
1/3 cup Almond milk (you can use regular milk as well.  The Almond Milk makes it lactose-free.)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 medium)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp. ground flaxseed
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
extra brown sugar for sprinkling on top

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Line 12 regular-size muffin cups with paper baking liners.

2. In a large bowl using a whisk beat milk, oil, egg and mashed bananas until well blended.  Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour, flaxseed, brown sugar, baking powder and salt all at once.  Stir just until combined.  Divide evenly among muffin cups, and sprinkle the top of each with a little brown sugar.

3. Bake 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Immediately remove muffins from pan to cooling rack.  Serve warm or cool.  (My Mom said she especially liked hers served warm with butter.)

xoxo

400th Post

Hello,

Wow, today is my 400th post, and Sunday marked my 3rd year of blogging.  These are great milestones to start the week.  The blog has become such a joy to me and I'm so blessed to have such wonderful readers.  I want to say a huge "Thank You" to each and every one of you, I'm so grateful that you take the time to stop in for a visit and that you find my ramblings interesting and worthy of a read.  I'm planning a giveaway for Wednesday, so keep your eyes open for that....

In knitting news, I finished the June socks early Sunday morning.  That's a first, usually I'm stumbling in at the end of the month, just barely squeaking by.  This pattern was so much fun though, it practically knitted itself.

Project: Jaywalkers
Started: June 1st, 2012
Finished: June 3rd, 2012
Pattern: Jaywalker by Grumperina
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in Rainbow
Needles: 2.75mm Signature DPNs
Mods: Cast on 72 stitches for the ribbing and did a short-row heel.

Be back soon with something that is not a sock, bet you didn't expect that!
xoxo

June Socks: The Beginning

Hello,

I started the June socks yesterday.  The pattern for this month is Jaywalker and the yarn is Knit Picks Felici in the Rainbow colourway.  They are turning out so, so, so pretty.  This is fast becoming my new favourite sock pattern.  I sure am looking forward to spending some quality time with these socks this month.

Happy Weekending,

xoxo

May Socks

Hello,

I know it's now June and here I am posting about May's socks, but I didn't have time to post yesterday about them like I had planned.  I finished these on the 30th, which was really cutting it close.  I started them on May 2nd and everything was going along great until I hit a snag once I got to the leg portion.  For some reason (my own fault, not the designer's) I couldn't get the patterning to work out correctly on the leg so I put them aside for a while and knit on other things.  When we came from vacation I knew I had to figure something out since it was getting close to the end of the month and I was still on the first sock, so I decided to just knit the leg in plain stockinette.  I actually like them this way.  With this colourway it's hard to see the lattice stitch anyway so I don't think it makes a big difference.  I call them my "Tigger Socks" since that is what the colour is called and they remind me of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh.

Project: Tigger Socks 
Started: May 2, 2012
Finished: May 30, 2012
Pattern: Leyburn Socks by MintyFresh 
Needles: 2.75 mm Harmony DPNs
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Muli - Tigger
Mods: Did the leg portion in stockinette and did 2x2 ribbing at the top.

In other news, Bingley the cat had his vet appointment yesterday and he is in good health.  He is neutered already, and got his rabies shot, worm pills and Revolution treatment.  We put an ad in the paper and if we don't get any calls we will either keep him or try to find him another good home.  I'd really like to keep him since he is so lovable and precious, but that all hinges on how he gets along with our other cat and two dogs.  Lots of prayers for a good transition would be very much appreciated!!

xoxo