A funny thing happened....

at the dentist's office.

I assumed that I would be waiting for a short period of time, so I thought I would take a project with me to work on. Knowing the assistant has dogs, I decided not to take the little dog sweater I was working on - not really ready for custom orders. Hmm.. what to take.... I know! The baby blanket! Bad idea. The assistant has ordered 3 complete sets of the same dratted pattern.

I have finished the first set in Red Heart Baby Econo Baby Green and White, delivered it and she loved it. We chose the lavender set as the second to work on. And she mentioned that she knows of 6 more babies on the way. I said, "Ouch! Let's get these first 3 sets out of the way!!" The pattern is getting a little monotonous, but I just love knitting and crocheting baby things, so I am a happy camper. Not looking forward to doing 9 sets of the same pattern....help! LOL!

The lavender set is coming along. Not as quickly as I was hoping. There is so much going on here. Getting settled in our new home, two new litters of puppies (within two weeks of each other....fun fun!) http://www.mountainhighkennel.com/, painting, etc.

Still slow progress on the surprise socks for a friend. I have figured a way to knit while riding my stationery bike! Simple things though like the trusty ole dishcloth! Those buggers sell like hotcakes anyways.

Should I go to the lake and work on the dog sweater??! I think not.

Cheers!

Still waiting, stash growing and too many WIP!

Good morning!

Well, we are still waiting to get the mobile home set up. This has been such a fiasco. We can't call for final inspection and be allowed to move in until this is finished. I have an awesome bunch of ladies coming next weekend to completely furnish and decorate the whole house. We have family arriving on the 10th and nowhere to put them up (at this time). Ok, so I have just vented, I feel better.... onward and upward.... we'll deal with the stress one hour at a time.

The stash is starting to grow again! Yay! Yes, I know.... this gal is nuts...excited her stash is growing?! Yup! Hubby's not too thrilled, but he sees the joy in my eyes as I hold my newest skien of yarn, shrugs, rolls his eyes, smiles and goes back whatever he's doing. I finally found the newest LYS. Very nice yarns!! Not terribly pricey, considering the kinds of yarns offered. I am only just beginning to get "into" the better yarns. I bought some sock yarn in blue and red. Charlie wants me to knit him another pair of socks that are blue with red toes and heels. He gets pretty sad about his "lost" pair.

A dear friend gave me a 100gr ball of GGH Marathon in variegated blue which I am now making pair of socks for another dear friend. I am worried that I won't have enough to complete the pair, so I will be positive... if there isn't enough, I had some wonderful practice, will frog em and try to find some other compatible yarn for toes, heels and cuff band and start over! I am using size 1 dpn's getting 8 st and 11 rows per inch.

Another WIP is a very challenging sock pattern. I joined six-sox-knitalong group and thought I would just dive in (as I do with everything in life!!!) and start on the Aug/Sept project. Ouch, I am in way over my head. The group is so supportive though, encouraging me ... one round at a time. I am certain they won't be done by the end of Sept.

Other WIP - Precious Layette booklet "Precious Blanket"; Rindy's Raglan Baby sweater pattern; and the ever in progress "Easy No Sew Raglan Sweater" for me - I started this one last fall and worked on it while riding my stationary bike. 10 miles seemed to just fly by! Can't wait to start that up again!!

We're headed out meandering the wilderness and forests again today. We see lots of wildlife usually, antelope, elk, some deer. I should post some of my pics, but this is supposed to be my crafting blog. Hmm... another blog in the making? Possibly!! Stay tuned!

Library Finds and yarn sticker shock!

Well, I was quite pleased with the knitting books I found at the library today. I thought to work on something other than my fave baby sweaters and socks. I would love to knit a tank top or tee shirt. The prices of the suggested yarns are simply out of my budget at this time. A simple tank would run over $60 in yarn.
With cooler weather soon approaching, I had thoughts on mittens and hats, but not done up using the acrylic yarns I taught myself with last year.
So, are there affordable alternatives? The more expensive yarns are gorgeous to be sure, but I can't swing those prices right now... still have to work on getting the new home finished and furnished.
How depressing. I really wanted to do this tee from The Ultimate Knitted Tee, by Laura Militzer Bryant and Barry Klein (page 47). I guess I could try an acrylic version as a trial run until I can afford the better stuff.
Holly

Recent Tragedy

Hello!
Sorry for the delay in getting this updated. We suffered a horrid loss here.
On March 26, our mobile home caught on fire while we were out grocery shopping. It was such a shock to see 4 fire trucks in our front yard. I don't really remember too much about that first day.
Things are slowly getting taken care of.
A friend of my husband has loaned us his motor home to live in on the property while we are waiting for our new home to be built and delivered.
It's been a struggle to find someone to clean up the old one and get the lot ready for the new one, but finally the local Mormon Congregation has stepped in to lend the most incredible assitance and help. I will eternally be grateful for this help.
Needless to say we lost virtually everything. The insurance (thank God we had insurance!) has been wonderful. The coverage was insufficient, so we are struggling to make ends meet, but we will presevere.
I have gotten some replacement knitting and crocheting items collected and have been working on socks, baby sweaters and dishcloths. Most of my FO's are gone. I did salvage the white and pink hat and Charlie's winter hat. All completed socks are gone, so I am starting over with some pretty unique color pallettes! Blue and orange (they do look neat!!), and I aim to do some "Where's Waldo" socks as well. A friend has donated some wonderful orange and brown yarn, Halloween is coming up.....maybe a purse with candy corn embellishments? I am making a list of things to do.... the knitting and crocheting is keeping me fairly sane while waiting this game out.
The new mobile home is expected to be delivered the first or second week of July.
Ok, enough sobbing... things are good, really. We are alive and healthy, nobody got hurt, so all is good.
Peace to you all....give your loved ones an extra special hug - maybe smile and wave to a neighbor....
Holly

Finishing a whole lot of nuthin'

Discovered I am not finishing many of the projects I've started this year. For one reason or another... incorrect guage (despite swatches), but mostly short attention span. I do enjoy having several projects OTN/OTH. I am knitting a sweater in the round while pedalling 10 miles (takes one hour) a day on the stationary bike.
There's a baby sweater from Leisure Arts Leaflet # 643 Book 3. "Webbed Set". I am doing this one in yellow and white for size NB/3mo. I work on this one in the wee hours of the mornings during my wake-up "me" time.
I have finished a few simple dishcloths. I guess I need to start finishing a few items so I can post more.