This is next!

poncho loco,
originally uploaded by sewsheknits.

Bought some gorgeous apple green and watermellon pink Classic Elite wool for this project from Interweave Knits. Can't wait to get started, but I've promised myself I'd finish that little baby sweater first!

A Visit to The Fold

Welcome to The Fold

Spent a gorgeous day with a great friend today. As if that was not enough, we added icing to the cake by visiting a wonderful LYS called The Fold in Marengo, IL.

What a wonderful place! Gorgeous yarns, Spinning Wheels, and even sheep in the pasture. Doesn't get any better than that! Even our sons enjoyed playing with Eric, the resident German Shepherd. After all of the ooh's and ahh's, we finally settled on some wool in apple green and watermellon shades for me and a gorgeous hand-dyed blue and green wool for my partner in crime. We'll just have to go back!

Still working on that baby sweater...I think I need to go on a yarn diet for sure after today's purchase. It is just so hard to put the stuff down!

Seed Stitch Baby Sweater

baby_knits_for_beginners,
originally uploaded by sewsheknits.

Well, Clapotis is officially complete and I'll post pictures very soon. Had to get something new started so I began a baby sweater as a semi-quick knit project. I've finished the back and one front side...now I'm working on a sleeve. While I'm enjoying it, my mind is on the next project even though I don't know what to begin next. I am considering the pj's from Interweave Knits...only I may try to lengthen the "shorts" to "capris" length. We'll see...hopefully, I'll have the yarn and the know-how to make it work. Still waiting on the Rowan Cork to arrive. I'll put off my wool projects until the first signs of fall. Off to find my needles!

Revenge of Clapotis

OK, Clapotis and I have been through a lot together and frankly, I was looking forward to the end of our "on the needles" relationship so that I can wrap it around my shoulders and forget about the nastiness. There are ten decrease rows, the few finishing rows, and the bind off and...as luck may have it...I ran out of yarn! I bought the Flash months ago at a very busy shop so I just knew that the happily ever after was just not to be. I will learn to buy an extra skein no matter what the cost (Flash is not expensive so there is just no excuse for being a penny-pincher). I was thrilled to find out that not only does the yarn shop still have a few skeins but they are holding one for me to be purchased later today. How's that for a narrow escape?! I hope to get a photo of the finished garment later today. In the meantime, I have picked up some mercerized cotton in fushia to make a baby sweater. I just might frog it in favor of some Cashmerino I might just find in the sale bin at the LYS while picking up my Flash. I'm really ready for some springy wool in my hands. The cotton I'm using has virtually no give...not much fun to knit up. I thought I had found the yarn for my Salt Peanuts but, alas, they ran out of Delight. I thought about cancelling the order but the sale was too good to pass up. I went out on a limb and ordered Bug. Hope I don't regret the color choice! Off to the LYS...

Knitting Dangers

As if it wasn't bad enough that my seven year old broke his left arm playing soccer this spring thus excluding him from swimming for most of the summer...there I sat once again in the waiting room of the Sports Med. Clinic waiting for yet another appointment. This time, his right arm was injured in a fall from the ladder of the high dive (really high) on his third visit to the local pool this summer. Waiting patiently, I gently pulled my almost completed Clapotis out of my knitting bag and onto my lap to get some much needed stitch therapy. A few stitches into a decrease row I hear the man sitting two chairs away say, "So you can knit?" I guess he is speaking to me so I glance in his direction, throw him a "yep" smile and return to my knitting. His next statement was something like "So you think you're really hot stuff 'cause you can knit?" What does one reply to such an odd, slightly offensive statement? I decided to defer to the same quick glance and smile technique that managed to get me into trouble the first round. Waiting for the next bit of wisdom to tumble out of said stranger's mouth, I was thrilled to hear my son being summoned into the inner recesses of the examination rooms. Here is where things get really crazy. In my haste to put as much space as humanly possible between me and the nut in the waiting room I inadvertently grab my knitting bag, needles with project dangling percariously on the tips, and my purse and jolt towards the open door. I was led around a maze of narrow hallways and through several doors before I heard the giggling behind me. I had dropped my precious ball of yarn back in the waiting room and now had a mile long trail of Flash in Magenta leading me right back to the man I never want to see again. Embarrassed and afraid, I nervously began to pick up yarn by the handful edging closer and closer to the dreaded waiting room. Just as I thought about leaving the remainder of yarn behind (cut my losses so to speak), I see the kind smiling face of what had to be a yarn lover carefully winding my little lost ball all the way through the waiting room door to my little hands. What a relief! Who knew that knitting could get me into these situations? With a deep breath, I thanked the kind Winder and quickly met my children in the exam room waiting for yet another bit of stress to work it's way through my veins. And, YES, there is plenty of stress to be had this summer it seems! My little one has now broken the right arm...two whole weeks after removing the cast from the left arm. I'm sure there is something to be learned from all of this. I haven't the slightest idea of what that might be but there just has to be a lesson in it. Needless to say, Clapotis is not finished. I am only about five decrease rounds and a finishing round away from completion but I'm not sure when I'll get to it now. I do know one thing...if anyone ever asks again, my answer will be a definitive "Yes, I do think I'm hot stuff 'cause I can knit."

Get me away from the computer!

That little guy I posted previously is exactly what my DH is going to look like when he sees the yarn I've ordered in his absence arrive at our door in a few days. It just might make him reconsider long business trips in the future! I just found an amazing deal on some Rowan Cork in the perfect color for my Salt Peanuts project. So, it is on its way. I'm very proud of myself for at least sticking to my wish list when adding to my stash. It is still cheaper than a year of Paxil or therapy!

fizgig?

fizgig,
originally uploaded by sewsheknits.

Just found this little guy. After ten days of my hubby being on the other side of the world, I'm feeling just like him!

PROMENADE1

PROMENADE1,
originally uploaded by sewsheknits.

As if I needed another project??? I am considering this "Christmas in July" as I just spent a small fortune on this Hanne Falkenberg kit. I think a little mindless garter stitch in yummy colors is just what the doctor ordered.

clapotis again

clapotis again,
originally uploaded by sewsheknits.

Finding peace with Clapotis...the second time around seems to be working out beautifully! My piano teacher says that my brain will take in a new piece of music as if it is a puzzle to be solved. Even after I leave the piano, she says that my brain is still working out the solution to the puzzle. When I return to the piano, some or all of the puzzle has been solved and magically, my fingers manage to play the piece much more easily than that first attempt. That must have happened with Clapotis, too! I'm actually enjoying this go at it and hope to be dropping stitches like a pro very soon!