Dishcloth Cotton Jag

Hey all,
Thanks to anyone who was able to help out my dear friend Mary-Kayand her yarn sale. I am sure she's thankful and glad there was demand for her yarns. I think she such a talented dyer and her colors are swoon-worthy.

As for me, I was in a bit of slump for a week where I didn't touch any knitting. Part of that was just that I spent my evenings either blogsurfing, spending time on Ravelry, or doing nothing. I didn't even feel compelled to cook or any other home duties. Now that my "break" from classes is coming to end, I'm starting to feel more refreshed. Also, hanging out with my girls tends to rejuvenate and fuel more knitting desires.

The weekend before Memorial Day weekend, I remembered that we were having a baby shower for a co-worker who's having a girl. I rustled up a couple of baby bibs and even managed to sew on buttons too. It must have been the short tie frame and I knew I wanted to finish them on time. Once the deadline passes, my enthusiasm for a pattern or project tends to wane, so it's best to strike while the iron's hot and all that.

Both bibs are from Mason-Dixon Knitting girls.

1st baby bib=knit in Peaches & Creme Country Garden colorway


Second bib knit in Bernat Cottontos


Both together now, say aww! :-)


And last in the cotton jag, for the moment, is another dishcloth. I found it on the Harvest Moon Designs blog quite awhile ago, and it was a free pattern. Now, I am not able to locate the actual pattern. This was also knit in Peaches & Creme in the Desert Sunset colorway. I really liked the pattern and how it turned out.



I also recently cast on for a simple dishcloth pattern. I like to use these especially for the leftovers from dishcloths and I just knit 2 or 3 leftover skeins into a dishcloth. As they are for my kitchen, I don't mind if it's not a fancy pattern. Nobody in the house seems to care one way or the other as to a fancy pattern or plain garter stitch. I figure I might as well do brainless knitting on those dishcloths.

I cast on for a new sweater, a summer cardigan too, but I keep forgetting to take pics. I will have to do that soon, as I have finished the back of the cardigan and have cast on for a front now

That's all for now. Must dash to work!

Yarn Sale!

No, not mine, but Mary-Kay of Red Rocks FiberWorks has dyed up some beautiful yarns, primarily sock yarns. If any of you are in the market for some sock yarn, or even if you're not, you should check her out.

We, as in all her friends, and locals in the Denver metro area have happily purchased her sock yarns at local yarn stores. However,for the first time, Mary-Kay is selling her yarns through her blog. She's a bit fearful that her yarns won't sell. But check out these beauties on her blog and let her know they will sell.




I've already scored four myself. Why don't you help her out with the rest? :-)

Oh, yeah, and the shipping is a flat $6 fee no matter how many you order. So get to buying, you won't be sorry!

I'll be back with some blogging later on today.

FO Backlog & May Goals

Whew, the second term of school is winding down. Tomorrow is the last class for two weeks, when I start again. Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Besides school, work has been keeping me crazy busy. The days when I used to read blogs and surf them in between doing some work, hmm, yeah, don't even have that kind of time at the new(ish) job anymore. Which is good, because the job is hugely rewarding and satisfying. But the backlog of blog reading, hard to catch up on, that's for sure. Sporadically you see me drop in an leave a comment. Often I'm reading, but not as much time to comment on everyone.

I have been doing some knitting, although there was a period for almost two weeks where multiple days passed with no knitting, except for Friday Night Knitting group.

Just to let you know, this post will be a long one, so sit down with your cup of coffee and get settled in.

I've got a backlog of FOs and I decided to put them all in one post b/c I didn't want to keep up a FO parade before I could even get to current knitting.

As part of my April goals, where I wanted to knit 3 dishcloths, I did manage to eke two. The first is the Blissful Moss Rib Cloth pattern using Peaches & Creme in the Green Apple colorway. Pretty easy pattern and I loved the colorway as I knit it up. I just wanted more of it. I also enjoyed this pattern. Very easy and simple and I know I will use it again.



The next FO to be displayed is the Seabreeze Kitchen Towel(alert, pdf download)by Kraemer Yarns. I used Peaches & Creme in the Seabreeze colorway, hence the name, and it calls for Kraemer's Tatamy Tweed, an acrylic and cotton yarn. I haven't yet used the yarn, but now I know I will be buying some for future towels. The yardage is great and the price very economical. I am sure I will knit this pattern again, although I may just use the stitch pattern and make a dishtowel that doesn't have the button. The button is cute, but not very functional for my use, but I do like the stitch pattern and would like it as a full size dishtowel to hang on the refrigerator.



Next up is the Sideways Garter Stitch Scarf from Alison of the Blue Blog. It's a ridiculously easy pattern and it took no time for me to finish. I knit this scarf out of leftover yarns and I still have plenty leftover too. I'm thinking of knitting the Yarn Harlot's Traveler's Life Afghan, pattern/recipe from the Casts Off book by YH. I used Araucania Nature Wool in 3 colors and the leftover Cascade 220 from my Ariann sweater. I finally finished the fringe on this scarf and I do like it. I've actually thought about making myself a striped hat to semi-match. It doesn't bother me to be matchy matchy, so I will probably do this.



Lastly, the Jaybird hoodie has finally been finished. I've knit this pattern before. This time it was for a bigger child. It is from Knitting Pure and Simple, Children's Tunic #232. I knit this for my friend's 1 year old son, who is pretty big for his size. I gifted the sweater on Friday and his mother was very excited. I hope to have a picture of him in it soon. And I even sewed on the button on the sweater, finally!



Finally made it through the fo backlog. In the past week, I've really gotten my knitting mojo back. I also noticed it came back as I started reading again. Weird how that happens. I was starting to get burnt out from school and felt like I needed a break. Once I started reading for fun, my stress levels reduced again.

Because this is getting so long, I'm going to quickly list my May knitting goals.

1. Knit three dishcloths. Hopefully I can manage this goal. I'm trying to knit down the dishcloth cotton stash.

2. Finish the Caribou Cherub Thujas. I'm actually pretty close with finishing this pair of socks, but it looks like the first sock is a bit short. I'll have to go back and rip out the toe and reknit a bit longer.

3. Start a Barn Raising square. All of my friends are doing it, why shouldn't I? Heehee.

4. Pick up either the Hanami stole or the Enchanting Juno stole. Or perhaps start something new? :-)

It's getting late and this post is going on forever. Suffice it to say, I don't have many goals for May. See ya soon.

April Goals revisited

In a follow-up to April's goals, let's see how I fared for April.

1) Finish the Everyday Tweed sweater. Done

2) Finish Jaybird hoodie. Yep! Even finally got that button added. Sweet.




3.Add fringe to sideways garter stitch scarf. Now that puppy is done. It's been patiently waiting for over a month.



4 & 5) April, sadly, has not been the month of socks. I finished the first sock of M's pair, but I have hardly touched my Cherub Thujas. I really do want them done. Must focus on this for May. No pictures, sorry.

6) My goal for knitting many dish cloths, well, three for this month, was not quite met. But I did knit one dish cloth, and a handknit kitchen towel (with a button tab closure), which used up 2 skeins of dishcloth cotton.






I'll cover all the specifications of the FOs in a post, soon to follow. The April goals were quite challenging and even though they weren't all met, I'm pretty happy with myself for staying focused on my goals. Now to see what May will bring. :-)