Happy Mother's Day

A happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. I'm not a mom (except to this sweet fella)...

but I had a great mom who was my best friend until the day she went to be with the Lord. And I am ever thankful to Him for giving me a mom like her. It's an extraordinarily marvelous blessing to have only sweet, sweet memories of her.

I love you, Mom! (...I think she heard me :)

May Days

May has been a whirlwind month around here! First there were these....

Then there was this...

You'd think we found a money tree in the back yard! Alas, no. We'd been planning on buying the kayaks for over a year and spent last summer paddling in an inflatable kayak we'd had for several years. It got us out on the water and we got around fine in it, but it can't compare to these babies!

The car was definitely not "in the immediate plan," but my car (which I'd had for 12 years, and loved that entire time) decided it was worn out (read- needed new power train and a/c repairs that were more than the value of the car). So, even though the plan had been to hang on to my old car about 3 more years, it didn't work out that way.

Of course, after the sticker shock of a car payment once again, we're in love with it! And it gets better gas mileage that my old one. And it's loaded with stuff I've never had in a car:

CD player

MP3 capability

power windows, locks, mirrors

all kinds of dashboard readouts, like gas mileage, outside temp, etc.

and...get this...remote start

For someone who's pretty plain in her living...I feel very decadent in this car! I didn't even know about the remote start until after we bought it, and I thought "I'll never use that." But now I'm thinking on a hot Arkansas day, start that puppy up and let it be cooling down before I ever get in it...yessir!

Red

Red seems to be the color of the day. Red impatiens (with a few orange for zest!) and a 'very close to finished' tweedy vest in red.

I think I'm really going to like this vest (when I get to wear it next fall!) I've got to seam the sides, and add the neck and arm bands. I love the color and the texture and I think it'll be very "fallish". But right now, it's a pile of wool on my lap during warm spring days.

I'm feelin' the itch to quilt ... cotton!

April Flowers

28 days later.... (I can't believe I haven't posted for almost a month, but I really haven't had anything to say). I'm still working on the tweedy vest and the purse, so there you go.

However, spring is springing all over our yard. And it is a beautiful sight to behold. I do not know how anyone can witness the glory of spring and doubt the existance of a creator.

I hope I'll have a new spring purse to show off shortly!

Good Friday

It's a beautiful day today, Good Friday. I have the day off, which is wonderful.

We've got lots of spring "springing" around here for this very early Easter. The daffodils are pretty much done, and the tulips are about to pop out. The dogwood is very close, and the lilacs are greening out. We've got a couple of irises this year, but nothing like last year...they were everywhere. This year was the daffodils turn. The forsythia (below) was a good show too.

On the knitting front, I finished Jimmy's socks! Yah, my first completed pair of socks...woo hoo! And these were man-sized socks! I've still got to get some action shots on the owner's foot, but here are a couple of prelim pics.

And the tweedy vest is growing a little faster...I'd probably be done with the back by now, if it weren't for the "sickies" that keep invading this house. But today is for knitting...and I plan to finish the back and start on the front today. With a break in between for some cupcake making. Yum.

The pic above is a little washed out, the actual color is slightly deeper in person. You can see where I've just started the armhole shaping.

Happy Easter!

March in the South

At least for a day or so.....

neither snow lasted more than 1 day, but it was lovely to see it. But now, I'm ready for spring! Especially since I got struck by the flu last week. There was no knitting and not even any consideration about knitting for a few days there...woosh, thankfully that's over, and the knitting has recommenced.

I'm moving rather slowly on my tweedy vest, but I'm picking up speed now that it's going to be too warm to wear it! Love, love the color and the "tweedyness" of the yarn. It's a fun knit so far.

I also started on a new spring bag before the illness struck. I'm making my own, smaller version of Amy Butler's Weekender Bag. At least, that's what it's looking like on the outside. I'm hoping to make this a true knitting / purse hybrid, so I can carry at least one project and all my regular stuff in an organized, neat fashion. I'm thinking I'll be making a couple of matching pouches and maybe even a wallet...we shall see!

February in the South

Yep, all over the front yard.

Swatch It

I'm swatching for a vest right now. This would be my first official "swatch-making in hopes of attaining gauge" effort. The first effort, which is this picture, was on US 7's and turned out too ...well, what do you say..."small?" if the needle size was too small and you ended up with too many stitches? Or do you say, "too big", since you have more stitches than you need? Hmmm....I'm not sure. Anyway, it was wrong, so I've gone up a needle size and am trying again.

Got the yarn from Webs. It's Valley Yarns Williamstown, a very soft tweed. On sale, to boot! And since I saved that money, I went ahead and got a few balls of this

for a hat. I'm looking at this one, which I love.

Sock One, Sock Two

I finished the first sock for Jimmy, and I've cast on for the second one. I'm in love with the color of this yarn. Pictures don't do it's heather-y goodness justice. I see flecks of gold, rust, red, sand, and chocolate in there. And I think this basketweave sort of pattern shows it off great.

I did a much, much prettier job of picking up my stitches along my heel flap this time around. It's a darn good looking sock if I do say so myself. Here's to a repeat.

I'm also making a few washcloths, this being the first one. You know, sometimes I feel like I click along pretty good with my knitting, and then sometimes I feel like the slowest knitter in the world. I guess I see all these people whipping out tons of knitting, and then I work on the same washcloth for a week! Makes a girl feel a mite slow. Admittedly, I only give it a few minutes each night, but it seems like some folks plop 'em out in an hour.

Knitting on....

A New Look

Time for a new look for the old blog! I was tired of the white background...I wanted something warmer. Plus, I made a few other changes: I now have 2 sidebars instead of just 1, thanks to this great blog. I added a few more goodies to those sidebars as well. It's just fun! Let me know what you think!

Squatty Sidekick

I finished my Squatty Sidekick bag and got it felted! It's too cute....just the size I was wanting for carrying to church.

I felted it in my machine, with a couple of towels and a pair of jeans. I put it in an old white pillowcase and closed it with a rubber band. I went through 2 agitation cycles for a total of about 15 minutes of felting, give or a take a minute for the times I checked on the progress.

It still needs the perfect button, which apparently, I don't currently possess. So I'll have to buy one. I can't decide....brown or blue?

Details on Ravelry
Amanda's Squatty Sidekick
Needles: KnitPicks Options US 10.5 (6.5 mm)
Yarn: Lion Wool in Cocoa and Dark Teal
Cast on 1/26/08
Cast off 2/3/08 and felted 2/3/08

February One

Brown is the color of the month around here...I'm wearing a brown sweater as I write this, too.
Not really planned, but I do love brown. Chocolate brown... the color of a Dove bar, yum.

I cast on for a new bag, and I'm up to the top decreases already! And hello...what is that? Why yes, that is colorwork...very clever of you to notice! I've been wanting to give it a try, and since this is to be a felted bag, I figured this would be as good a time as any to see how I do. I just did a very, very basic alternating 1 brown, 1 blue for 3 rounds. But, I did it...and now I know I need to brush up on my English style knitting, so it feels more comfortable.



Jimmy's sock is coming along. I've just finished the heel flap and am about to start turning the heel. This yarn is rather splitty to knit with, but I love how it looks with this basketweave pattern. Very yummy. Like chocolate! (It's all knitting all the time around here.)