Progress picture of my vesty thingy and my new Harmony needles!

My new Harmony Needles are mostly what I expected. I wish the colors were as bright as the photos on the site showed, but hey.. they're very nice otherwise! I can't wait to actually use the on a project.

I as able to work on the never ending ribbed vest this weekend. It just isn't that inspiring to work on. I didn't exactly measure the width of my back, just light stretched the first piece across my chest/shoulder area and cast on the amount to fill that space. The image with below appears to be too narrow. Oh well, if I need to fudge it and crochet on an additional piece I will!

I also spent some time with Molly at the pool. Here she is in her post pool wrap!
On the SP front, I've dyed some lace yarn, wound it into yarn cakes and picked up a few other goodies to post to my pal. That package should be off any day now!

Pioneer Ponco is done!

I was able to finish it at work today. All that's left is sewing in a few ends and washing. I can't wait to wear it! We're nearly cool enough for me to wear it when no one would look at me funny. It's a great length too, I'm able to still be efficient at work while looking very cool at the same time! I also plan to use the left over yarn, about 2/3 a skein to make fingerless gloves to match. If I don't have enough to make them, I'll use what I have as the edging and use a solid color that coordinates for the rest.
Also in knitting news I've completed part 1 of the vesty item I was inspired by the gals at Blue Moon Fibers arts to make. I now have to pick up a section of knitting and work it in the 2x2 ribbing for the back piece. I noticed once I got into that either the skein was dyed in a funky way or my tension changed just enough to alter the appearance of the fabric. It went from having circle like patterns to a subtle zig zag appearance.



In other news.. knitting related that is.. I've been browsing some blogs and came across a very pretty cabled hat. It's from smariek.blogspot.com. It's the Karma Cap. I found it originally on another blog that I had happened upon after looking at the blog links on grumperina's blog.

I plan to make it in a very slightly variegated yarn. I'm hoping to find some medium/dark grey. Perhaps Malabrigo or Lorna's Lace worsted weight.

ta ta

FO's, makeshift swift and football!

So, today was the first regular season Seahawk game, Go Hawks!

My DH had a few friends over and I was able to get in some knitting/crocheting time. I was able to finish the crocheted poncho I began 1.5 years ago. As I washed it by hand a ton of green/brownish dye came out into the water. I was just hoping that wouldn't muddy the other bright colors in it. Luckily it stayed fairly bright!. It also grew about 4 inches in length, not too surprising since it's cotton.
I also mostly complete the Lorna's Lace poncho from the previous post. It turned out a bit too large and instead of frogging it, I'm going to try to weave in several black elastic threads through the top 2x2 ribbing. It hangs a bit low. If this doesn't work, I'm going to pick up the edge of the ribbing and crochet around it. This will keep it from being too stretchy.

I have also spent some time looking at the new fall yarns over at webs (Yarn.com) and found a few I hadn't heard of, but just love the color ways! One of them, Marisol Hacho, seems to be from South America(Peru). I can't seem to stop looking at Tutti Fruti-300,Coral Reef-303 and Northern Nights-307. The intensity of color is eye catching!

I also started attending a new knitting group in my area. They meet at a local Star***ks that is very close to my home. Since they all seem to be avid sock knitters I hope their experience will rub off on me! I still haven't completed a single sock, I always rip it out as I'm never satisfied. To help keep my interest in sock knitting, I've ordered some of the new KnitPicks Harmony multi-colored wood needles. Hey.... I had to have an excuse! You all know I don't *need* them at all! Aren't they just beautiful! They're like a rainbow!

They are similar to another brand I've seen but couldn't afford. Since they're interchangeable with my existing KP Options metal set I couldn't resist trying some of them out. If I like what I feel I'll purchase a few more of the fixed and the sizes I mostly use in the tips. I hope that I can knit the Seasilk more easily with them.

I still haven't seemed to sew anything this weekend either. I did however hyperextend my left leg and my knee isn't too happy, t's a bit puffy and painful. To top things off, I somehow manged to hurt my lower back too.. so... I'm not too happy of a camper right now.

ta ta..

What I've been working on... and buying!

About a week ago I visited Bad Woman Yarn in their new location in Wallingford ( near the University of Washington in Seattle). I found the owners and staff quite friendly and warm. What I didn't like, was their over abundance of Berroco and very small sock/hand dyed yarn selection. They did have a very small selection of Lorna's Laces, which I just adore.

I purchased 3 hanks of the Shepered Worsted in the color way Pioneer.

It's a lovely combination of bright blue that fades to a denim blue, a charcoal grey that seems black in places, and a variety of shades of a warm rich brown. I didn't have a plan in mind when I chose it. I did figure that if I had at least 3 hanks I could work something out! In the end I decided to "wing it" and cast on for a poncho/shawl thingy. I've worked an area that will allow me to steek it should I choose to and add buttons. However, right now, its been worked in the round with 3 inches of ribbing, 4 inches of st st and so far 7 inches of a moss like stitch. I did add some "shoulder" shaping in the st st section.


I also recently found a few great bargains at Lane Bryant when I was actually on my way to JCPenny to pick up some trousers for work. I stumbled upon a rather cute tan cardigan.. It has elbow length sleeves & the sweetest little sections of what I think are butterfly stitches bordered with a purl background along with some standard 1x1 and 2x2 ribbing. I would really like to make a sweater just like it, okay not in the lace weight I'm sure it was knit with, but with something like DK. *pictures posted later*

Another great find of the century was a subtly striped black suiting-like jacket/blazer I can wear to the office. The final price was between $15-$19.00!

This weekend I have a wedding to go to, we're not very close to the couple, in fact I've never met them, so I'm not too worried about what I'm going to wear. I have a few crafty projects to start/complete as well.

1. A simple bag made out of some brown/tan/teal MODA fabric.
2. 2 paper crafted inspirational phase/saying thingies to hang on our new office wall at work
3. The quilt for a friends daughter.

Recently I also purchased Knit Kimono - which I highly recommend, Last Minute Knitted Gifts, One Skein, a ball winder, some items for my SP, plus some new dye.

I still need to hang two sets of shelves, reorganize my knitting books &stash, and weed the garden. I swear the tomato plants from nowhere have really begun to take over!
** They sprouted from seeds left in the soil that was used as a planting bed by the previous owner ** So far they haven't lead to any ripened fruit, but I'm still holding out some hope for my own tomatoes!

Also on the gardening front, I have a pepper plant, not the Green Bell Pepper plant I thought I had purchased, ready to harvest!