Cacophony

I have three kids. One six year old. Two teens. A puppy. And a very hectic schedule. So when my parents come visit on the weekends it is like a three ring circus. Everyone is talking, moving, interacting. To finish a thought is a luxury. To complete a sentence - unheard of. And it drives my father CRAZY! I have realized that my knitting is much like my life. A cacophony of fiber each wanting to be heard. The beautiful yarns talking over one another. Competing for my attention. The projects fighting to be heard. I hear a bit of this conversation and a bit of that . . . Maybe that explains why I have yarn stuffed in every nook and cranny and projects in every bag. I've decided to stop feeling guilty about it. The conversations will keep. I'll return to them later. Occasionally the subject matter will have changed and it may be time to scrap a project and that is OK. The point of knitting is to enjoy oneself right? So stop the guilt. Start the knitting and ENJOY!

I have been conversing from time to time with the Neco Wafer Hoodie from the Spring Twist Collective (there is a new issue out tomorrow!) I'm making it for my friend's daughter and I love the bright colors. Now that it's Summer maybe I don't need to worry about finishing it until Fall!

I did finish the helmet liner for the soldiers in honor of my frined Brooke's son. It is really long but that's what the pattern calls for. I guess they like to have some extra room in the helmet.

And to leave you with a Molly photo - here she is with Grandpa who was visiting last weekend. Doesn't she have the perfect puppy eyes?!

Happy Memorial Day

I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend. Ours was pretty mello but very enjoyable. In the spirit of Memorial Day, I finished the helmet liner I am knitting for Socks for Soldiers. It is in honor of my dear friend Brooke's son who fought in Iraq and passed away in December. The pattern calls for you to knit for 7-8" before decreasing so the hat seems huge but there must be some reason for that. They are very picky - you have to use a certain type and color of yarn and follow their pattern but I got it done and will be shipping it off momentarily.

I also just found out that there will be a shower for the Little Man's kindergarten teacher who is expecting a baby in July. She is expecting a boy and she loves earth tones so I made this little veggie hat for her and I'm working on a blanket. The hat was VERY quick and a great and easy gift.

To continue with my "start-itis", I am thinking of knitting the Ulmus and have been trying to figure out what yarn combination to use. This is what I came up with and I need to do some swatching to see if these colors look right together. It's always so hard to find the perfect combination.

My good friend Kristin nominated me for an award.

Here are the RULES: you must resend this to 5 bloggers and you must tell 5 things about your crafts you like the most...what inspires you to make home made gifts.

1. I love the relaxing feeling of sitting and knitting something, watching it grow and seeing the end result.

2. I love experiencing all the different yarns out there these days especially the really soft ones and ones with amazing colors.

3. I love the community of knitting that exists on the web and in yarn stores.

4. I love to be able to make someone a gift that they will know truly came from the heart.

5. I love the possibilities knitting offers as can be seen from my ridiculous stash and pattern pile - if I knit them all I'll live forever!

Now for my fab five of inspiration - I decided to make sure I had five folks that I've never mentioned before. These are 5 people who don't know me at all and don't know that they have motivated me to knit things so let's let them know!

1. Susan

2. Kristin Kapur

3. Brooklyn Tweed

4. Mustaa Villaa

5. Kody May

And OF COURSE I have to leave you with a photo of Miss Molly.

Knit On

I thought I'd share some actual knitting with you. I HAVE been doing some knitting although mainly I've been starting things. I have serious "start-itis" and not enough "finish-itis". I keep thinking of things I want to make and yarn I want to purchase. I have been trying hard to restrain myself although I'm not have much success. I have continued to work on hats for Relay for Life but I thought I'd show you something other than a hat for a change.

Awhile back I purchased some Crystal Palace Iceland yarn at a LYS sale. It is a very bulky wool in seriuosly bright colors. I had no idea what I wanted to make with it I just knew I had to have it. Recently I have been considering making the Kiki Mariko rug from the new Mason Dixon book but just can't quite bring myself to spend the time to knit a rug. So instead I decided to use the concept to knit a felted bag. I only had 4 colors and the pattern calls for 8 but I decided I would just give it a whirl. I'm learning how to knit fair isle 2 handed and it is going reasonably well. It definitely makes things work better and tangle way less. I put a skein on either side of me and off I go. It's slower than regular knitting but hopefully I'll get faster the more I try it. So stay tuned for my Kiki Mariko bag - I definitely see more things out of this "pattern" in the future! I may just find myself making that rug . . . .

How's Molly you ask? How sweet of you to inquire! She is doing well. The potty training is going quite well with very, very few mistakes. She has started puppy class and can sit, down, stay and spin in both directions (not quite sure the point of that one but it's fun!) Our town had our annual pet parade on Saturday and she was a star. It's such a cheesy event and I love it. Half the town walks in the parade and the other half watches. There were dogs, cats, lizards, goats, ponies, horses, fish and a bull mastiff dog that is the biggest thing I've ever seen. She has never walked that far before and all of the excitement wore her out. At the end she totally flopped and we had to carry her to the car! Look at those long gangly legs! It's still very hard to photograph her. The deep black of her coat for some reason makes it really difficult but trust me - she's GORGEOUS!