On the Coast

We started our second day in Lincoln City today. The boys love the beach. The little guy has been a handful to an amazing extent. I think tonight was largely related to being tired. We might be ordering take out for the next couple of meals.

Having some time away from home can be very nice. I'm thankful I'll have Wednesday off from work to recover from the trip. Then only two days before the next weekend.

I'm almost 2/3 of the way done with a test knit shawl and then there is a mystery knit that starts on August 1. I'm planning to work on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy themed mystery shawl Don't Panic.

I'm excited to swatch for an upcoming sweater...I'm hoping I have the patience to get that done quickly :).

My wrists are pretty sore from the current project so I'll likely need to take a break. With how busy work seems to be (upon my return from vacation), we'll see how much time there is to craft (I typed nap instead of craft at first...Freudian slip).

I'm still keeping these posts fairly short...things to do...need sleep!!!

Hope you all have a great week. I'll post more soon.

KAL and CAL

Happy Sunday. It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the start of another work week. We had our first weekend of not needing to work, travel too far, family celebrations, or dog-sitting/house-sitting. We took advantage by running errands and catching up on some cleaning. There is always more to do.

I found another project to test and I'm almost a third of the way done. I'm striping a lovely shawl for a nice person in Ireland. So many lovely ideas from so many corners of the world.

The pattern that I really want to work on next as a personal treat is Divide:

This is the main sample picture. Check it out...it's gorgeous. I'm hoping to start it in August with a cotton based yarn. Anyone want to knit along with me?

Here is the lovely crochet sweater I'd love to work on as well:  Picking flowers sweater. I'd push this one ahead of Divide if someone wanted to join me. I don't have time to work on it during the current crochet along.

I'm keeping this post pretty light. My coastal family vacation is coming up quickly. I plan to have lots to post about soon :).

Have a great week.

Multiple Celebrations :)

June and July are filled with birthdays and anniversaries in my family. My mom celebrated her birthday this week and my older son will celebrate his birthday tomorrow. We found a few little things to give him and he is intent upon spending his birthday money on video games.

I survived my fourth round of expert witness testimony, we had our summer cub scout planning meeting, I finished knitting a sweater, and we're another week closer to our vacation to the coast...so many thinks to celebrate. As with my husband's birthday, I tried to find a few interesting history facts.

The one historical event that caught my eye was the launch of Apollo 11, the mission to send men to the moon. The number eleven has a special meaning in my family and neither of my kids were born on an eleventh. Not only is there another eleven to link to my kiddo, but space has always been a particularly special interest my mom and I shared growing up.

The post is being made a day early to allow for time to focus on the birthday and work on some time sensitive projects for work.

The completion of the test knit has been a nice relief of Links are my a game pullover. The sweater turned out great and I like the design. Here is a nice awkward selfie in the completed sweater.

It's definitely not sweater weather here in Portland, but I'll be ready for fall. The sweater was a very fun project and I greatly appreciate the design. I'm excited to have a green sweater. Green is my favorite color, but I don't tend to buy it that often.

Now with all of that freedom to choose a new project, I've been balling up some skeins and starting up some basic crochet patterns. I'm hoping to make things that I'll actually wear instead of things that are merely fun to make. I checked out one of Norah Gaughan's books Knitting Nature from the local library. I've been a fan of Norah's work for several years.  There are some lovely patterns and I was tempted to start one (or 2). With my 18 pages of projects in Ravelry...that's a sign that I don't need any new  pattern books.

I was considering making the Purl Soho Short Row Sweater to make an adorable layering sweater. I have some Hawthorne fingering in a white, dark blue, and gray that might make for a very pretty short row sweater.

I'm also excited to work on a crochet pattern in the spring/summer magazine for Vogue Knitting. And yes, I said crochet patterning in a knitting magazine. Check it out:  #23 Mesh Jacket. I'm contemplating using some of my fingering weight Noro. I'm curious as to how it would turn out with the striping in the yarn.

After several busy weekends, it's been nice to just take some time to let the kids enjoy what they love. When we returned home from a drive to the Dalles, the little guy and I walked to the playground at Marshall park. Here is Ethan enjoying the swing. Such a sweet boy. Hopefully, he sleeps more tonight than he did the previous night. I need more than 3 and half hours of sleep.

I'm hoping that Jeffy has a special day. We're keeping it simple this year...to my relief!!!

Have a great week and happy crafting.

Crazy summer weekends!

It's amazing how busy things seem to be. I had hoped with the holiday on Tuesday that things would be fairly quiet during the week. I received so many calls and e-mails. The good news is that my little practice area seems to be growing with more interest and referrals from attorneys. But that's just boring talk :).

I've been knitting the sweater for my last test knit as much as I can. I only have part of one sleeve before I put it all together. I blocked the back panel and will be blocking the main body tonight. I'm close to running out of yarn, but I think I'll be fine. There is a lovely list of other things I want to make as I had indicated last week.

I hope you had a festive 4th of July. We spent time with family and watched the movie Independence Day. It's such a fun 90s movie. I wore my headband (Ravelry:  Simple Patriotic Headband). With need to work the day before and the day after the holiday there wasn't much time to relax.

I purchased a few new tools within the last few weeks to help with my crafts. Here are the knitting blocks that I'm very thankful for. The grid is super handy.

Along with the blocks I purchased a little display dress form and a scale. That's enough investment in my craft for now. I'll work on my crochet top and then a knit top when there is a tad more time :). Please PM me if you'd like to test knit or crochet. I might be able to send you the yarn for  the test too!

Here's a quick flash back of what they look like.

Ethan (my toddler) and I drove to the Dalles and back to send my almost eight year old to my Dad's home in central/eastern Washington. On the way home we stopped by my knitting group. It was so nice to see Cathie and to meet Alex (both who love to crochet). Ethan was happy to have some space to run around, but a Starbucks isn't necessary the best place for a toddler. We didn't stay for long.

Wish me luck with the sleeve and wrapping up that project ASAP! Have a great week.

A Weekend to Rest

On Friday Sammy and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. We celebrated by taking Friday off from work and having a weekend without the kids. My family agreed to babysit, many thanks to Sam and Cathy.

We took Friday pretty slow. I love where we live right now. So many things are in walking distance. We ate at the Original Pancake House after I dropped my car in for a tire rotation. I had pumpkin pancakes...so yummy! I'm in the "pumpkin should be in everything" crowd (except for beer...I don't like pumpkin beer). Then we watched a couple of fun nerdy movies and enjoyed some cheese and crackers for lunch. I feel like it's a standard celebratory meal for us. We were able to get some things done around the condo and relax this weekend. Our cars are even washed and vacuumed...such a relief. We park under some trees that have been blooming.

I've been working hard on my final test knit which is a very time intensive project. I have about two weeks to get it done. With the holiday on Tuesday, I'm so hoping to get things wrapped up quickly. The list of things I want to make after completing it keeps growing and growing. Also, I want to design a few things along the way as well. Designing is a time intensive process (especially as a novice).

To clean things up, I was going through my pattern library in my Ravelry notebook. I have over 1,000 patterns in my library from over five years of searching. Clearly, there is no need for me to purchase any new patterns soon! There are some things I have finished, so it was nice to post some pictures and remove them from the list.

A six pattern chunk related to doilies that I had made for my brother-in-law's wedding. They had an adorable vintage theme, and they did it well. Gilly, my now sister-in-law, had been collecting doilies, so I asked if I could make her some. She agreed and confirmed the colors. I really needed something to focus my attention in a positive light. Here are a few pictures.

The doilies were such fun to make, and it was nice to feel like I had something to give to the wedding. My older son and hubby were part of the wedding. With a six month baby, I wasn't very useful. Of course, others had children in the wedding party...so no excuse.

Here is a picture of my little guy and me at the wedding. Sadly, my look was more 40s than 50s...I tried :).

Sharing in their special day was nice. Now they have a beautiful baby boy, and all seems really rosy :).

Have a great holiday week and enjoy the beautiful weather!

Quick Fun Patriotic Headband Pattern

Here is a quick patriotic headband pattern. Someone else has probably thought of something similar, yet this is what I threw together with the hope that you'd have time to knit them up on one week. If I have time, I'll post a crochet pattern or two soon.

I used size 6 needles and sport weight acrylic yarn.

Cast on 32 stitches in red using the long tail cast on (leave yourself 6 - 8 inches for the tail).
Row 1: Knit red (cut yarn leaving 6 - 8 inches for the tail)
Row 2: Purl white
Row 3: Knit white (cut yarn)
Row 4: Purl red (cut yarn leaving 6 - 8 inches for the tail)

Repeat Rows 1 - 4 five more times.

Row 25; Knit red (don't cut yarn)
Row 26: Bind off stitches in the final row while purling in red. You should have 13 stripes.

On the side with the least amount of ends, pick up on 20 stitches with the right side facing up with the blue yarn. Purl the first row and work in stockinette stitch for a total of 19 rows and bind off.

Cut 10 - 12-inch strands of blue and attach to the blue side. I like using a basic fringe technique. We're only got to work one strand for each piece of fringe and place it every other row. Here's a helpful Youtube video:  Knitting Help - Adding Fringe. I use a crochet hook to add the fringe.

Weave in the ends on the wrong side in the joining of the blue.

Tie the white ends together, and red ends together. Trim up each side so that the ends are fairly consistent. You'll want 6 - 8 inches on each side. Then it's basically done. It will look rolled up, but when you tie it, you can get the ends to flex and stretch.

Alterations:  I have a fairly small head so consider adding 6 - 12 more rows of blue for an average female size head.

More modifications of this pattern to come along with better and brighter ideas. The best part of this project that it can be made in a single evening.

This day in history...

Today is my hubby's birthday and I couldn't help looking up some historical facts. He studied history during his undergrad. Many things happened, but the big ones that I saw were:

• Custer's Last Stand (Battle at Little Big Horn)
• The start of the Korean War
• The passing of Michael Jackson

In contrast to those big events, it's been a mostly quiet hot day here in Portland. It can be difficult to knit on these warm days. We purchased a lovely portable air conditioner. It's definitely helping. I'm working on my third and final test knit, which is definitely keeping me busy. I have a back panel, most of a sleeve, a cuff, and the start to the front and sides. The green sock yarn hasn't been making me too warm, thankfully.

In a moment of weakness I bought the newest issue of Interweave Crochet Spring 2017. The link will take you to the Ravelry page. So many of the patterns are amazing, yet I have my heart set on making The Unburdened Cardigan (maybe a bit shorter than shown) and the Urban Poncho. I have the yarn and the tools...just need the time. I have just a few weeks to finish the test knit, so I'm hoping there will be plenty of time before the rain returns.

In another moment of weakness I found out about the Knitpicks summer sale and splurged a tiny bit. The yarn below is primarily acrylic and very affordable. I love the Curio crochet thread so I bought a few of the sale colors. The black was the most on sale and I hope to crochet some lovely lace masquerade masks for Halloween. Two skeins of Hawthorne were ordered because the colors are so pretty.

You might have noticed the little baggies. Those are full of safety eyes.The intent with ordering this palette of acrylic yarn and eyes is to make more Star Wars characters for my brother-in-law and his kiddo. I purchased the newest kit made for Lucy Collin's patterns. I was so excited to get the pattern book. I remember ordering her patterns off of Etsy before they were licensed. In this book, there are even new characters from Episode VII.

Now I just have to pick which one to start...after the test knit. What's funny is that I couldn't quite remember which ones I had already made and given. I had made a mental list and then Sammy reminded me that I made Han Solo and Leia. I had to look at a post that Sammy remembered on another person's Facebook Timeline for me to remember. So, I think I've made 7 and there are so many more and accessories and patterns I still have from my purchase back in 2011. For some reason 2011 seems like ancient history now...time flies!

My first pattern post (which I'm hoping to have ready during the week to give people a week to make it for the 4th of July). It will be a kitschy 4th of July headband. I have ideas for two, but there isn't enough time. I'll add a link to Ravelry so that you can post your project (Please do! I agree with others that if you make something from a free pattern, post it!).

I'm using some of the newly purchased yarn to start. The blue is a bit dark, but so pretty in person.

It's time for you all to measure your heads and be ready for a simple patriotic headband. Ignore my crazy weekend wavy hair 😄.

My Ravelry ID is Lizziehutch if you want to go hunting for the pattern later. Have a great week and I'll post soon.