Just to let you all know

YES, I am still among the living. It has been quite crazy this past week or so. My girlfriend came to visit, then my DH came home after being gone for a month. and then the new Summer Floor set arrived this week at Coldwater Creek.

Needless to say, I have not gotten much knitting done, nor much sleeping, but I am hoping I will get back to my routine here very soon. Maybe tomorrow after I get home from work I will be able to post a pic of my Baby Llama sweater.

Take Care Everyone and enjoy the Spring time

Catching up with SP

First of all

THANK YOU TO MY SECRET PAL for the lovely postcard I recieved this morning. I have been on off my puter for several days now and not always keeping up. It was so lovely to see the roses she sent (I am a sucker for roses). Yes, the first few days of spring have been great.

Next up....
My contest entry is the sweater pictured in my previous post. I absolutely love working on it. It is from Knitting Pure and Simple and is called the Weekend Neck Down Pullover. I am working it with Plymouth Yarn's Baby Alpaca Grande. It has got to be one of the softest sweaters I will ever own. Yep you saw that right, I am making this for me. I have been a bit selfish with my knitting lately what with my Einstein Coat and now this sweater... but I know there are many pairs of socks already on the list (and the needles for that matter) that will go to others.

This will be my first attempt at a sweater, so I am really hoping it comes out well. Plus it seems to be working up fairly quickly (as long as I get chance to work on it).

Must run now and go visit with my friend who is here visiting, and then it is off to work for me.

Tootles

I am in Love....

... with baby alpaca wool. Oh My Goodness, it is just so soft and squshy, and soft, and I can't wait to be able to wear it. Never mind the fact that it is already 70+ degrees here today!! I am going to have to wish for cold weather when I get back from my days away (which are - oh btw going to be in a warm climate). So what is it that has me all aflutter for Baby Alpaca wool

It is just the prettiest blues I have seen. It is a very loosely twined dk & lt blue, but as you knitt it, it just becomes totally lovely. This is the neck portion of my Weekend Neck Down Pullover from Knitting Pure and Simple. Silly me, I thought the title meant I could knit this in a weekend - yes Viv I had you in mind (silly me thinking I might be fast enough to make this true) - It took me nearly ALL weekend just get these 40 stitches cast on and connected and knit in the round (which I might add I have done in the past). I tell you everyone, after the umpteenth attempt at this, I was ready to throw myself off a cliff and just join in with the dumb rocks below. But alas, I finally go a bit smart and went to Knitting Help and watched the video a couple times and low and behold I was able to not only cast on, but also join in the round and subsequently start actually knitting my sweater.

Here we have my sweater after just the first skein of wool. It looks kind of goofy in this picture, but I still have it on the small circular needles with all the little markers and such. I am just about ready to split off for the sleeves, but I need to join a new skein of wool (but first I need to wind it into a usuable cake)

Of course this also means that I have not been working on my Dad's or DH's socks. I figure I will keep those for my plane rides.

Oh and the other exciting news is..... I just got my Secret Pal assigned to me and she is a sock knitter (whoo hooo). I have my SP too, but I will not say too much about that or I am sure I will give something away. I am so excited to have a SP, I have not ever done something like this before.

Off to do some laundry and wool winding, and maybe even some knitting.

The Pics I Promised

So here they are....

First me looking 'sheepish' in my Einstein Coat. Although I must admit I am very proud of it. It is so toasty and comfy. I sometimes come in from outside and don't even remove it.

Then we have my oldest who was here last night on a stop-over for spring break. I took him to the airport this morning and about now he should be arriving in West Palm Beach, FL to visit his Aunt & Uncle.

Lastly we have my lovely Daffodils. They were looking very chilly and huddley the other day, so I went and snipped them and brought them into the warmth. By the next morning this is how they thanked me.

Today was a great day, in that I got to spend a bit more time with Rich, and then went to my monthly Knitting Group mtg. We are called Yarn for Breakfast. This morning there were about 10-12 of us, and we really raised quite the din in that little coffee shop. I think the computer users were glad to see us finally leave at about 1230. As I wrote in my comments for our mtg - Chitty- Chatty; Chitty- Chatty ... KNIT KNIT KNIT. For those of you familiar witht he muscial The Music Man, there is a tune that fits just perfectly.

I am off to go do some more knitting.

...and then there is this

Here it is my very first Dish Cloth/Rag. It seems strange to be calling my hand knit item a 'rag', but that is what it is and what it is meant to be. Please excuse the center glitches near the top. After all this is my first attempt, and oh by the way I did it in 4 separate sessions of walking on the treadmill for 20-30 min at a time. I have found that I am capable of walking 3mph while knitting (in a controlled environment). Plus the use of 5mm bamboo needles helps too - a) they are big enough so not too hard to keep hold of and b) the bamboo isn't so slippery like aluminum.

Since this seems to be my most recent way of motivating myself to get on the treadmill I guess everyone can look forward to Dish Cloths through out the year. Plus it is a really great way to satisfy that desire to finish 'something' when working on other projects.

As I live and breath my dish cloth knitting will NOT travel anywhere with me unless there is a treadmill to be walked upon.

I am hoping to be able to wear Einstein to work tomorrow or definitely by Tues so there will be modeling pics soon.

Heeeeerrrrrreeee's Einstein.....

Yep Here she is!!!

Completed with buttons.

Really pretty pewter buttons with a little Edelweiss flower on them.

I am very please with my first BIG project. Now all I must do is block her. I think I will save that until tomorrow morning when I am fresh. Once she is blocked then I will model her and have someone shoot a pic for me.

Time for sleeeeeeeeeep