Photography Fail

I took so many photos for this post, even with my good camera, and a total of 3 of them came out in focus.  I ask for forgiveness on that.  I have never studied photography and am trying varying a number of variables, but I'm pretty sure I need to obtain or rig a more standard background and lighting arrangement.  I have some ideas to play around with, I just need to set aside some time to do it.  

On to the knitting! And my first adventure in spinning!

My mom really liked the start of my Traveling Companion (details to come later), so when she came to visit, we took a trip to my LYS.  She was struggling to find colors she'd like to blend.  We took some time to cruise through some shop samples and she found the Hitchhiker.  She really loved it and at my LYS, it is knitted up in Freia.  The shop had some in stock and Mom really liked the teal.  We discussed the options for alternating balls to preserve the gradient, or working one skein after another.  She opted to preserve the gradient and here's the beginning of her shawl.

Socks for my husband are finished!

Things have certainly been busy around here!  I got home from a business trip 2 weeks ago and leave for another one this week.  Last one of the year, thankfully.  Between trips, trying to get things done around the house, and some semblance of a social life, I didn't get much time to edit the photos for this post.  A few are from my good camera, others are from my smartphone (though still not bad). 

Just One More....

Sorry it's been a bit longer than I had hoped since I posted.  I've had some travel for work that took more energy than I thought it would.  I'll post a picture at the bottom!

Just when I finally thought I was finished with washcloths, a reason popped up to make just one more.  I've started playing along with the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup on Ravelry and the prompts for one of the July classes was a challenge to go back to our knitting roots.  My grandmother taught me how to knit when I was around 7 or 8 years old.  She taught me how to make a very basic washcloth.  Later in life, a gift she gave to all of her grandchildren was a cookbook with her favorite family recipes in it, and mine also contained a pattern for the washcloth. It was meant to be and I knitted on up.

Washcloth Frenzy

Lately I've been knitting washcloths like a mad woman.  I'm making some as a thank you gift for a co-worker who has been very helpful and these lovely pink ones as a gift for my cousin who just had her first baby girl.  You can find the project on Ravelry here.  Now, I'll have to admit, the photos for this did not turn out very well.  All in all I took 74 photos to get these, so I'm just going with it for this week.

Here is one on the needles, about 2/3 of the way finished.  The pattern is called Soft & Nubby.  Unfortunately I do not have a link to it as it was a handout from my knitting instructor a few years ago who never made the pattern available online. 

Finally Back on Track

It's been quite a while.  Life has been rather hectic making the new house livable, inside and out.  Paint is finally up in most of the primary areas.  My bedroom isn't quite done yet.  The piano my parents had in their house will be arriving at my house this week, and I'm super excited about that.  Outside the grass is growing (in patches) and the fence is up!  No more dog walking 3 - 4 times a day!

The biggest accomplishment is that I have finished the Stephanie's wrap for my mom.  I gave her a sneak peek before it was blocked, but here's the final product.

Feel the Pretty....

I have a number of projects coming up.  All of which involve fabulous yarn. Here's the info on the two I haven't started yet.

For the Leaf Lace Washcloth to be used as a class sample for my upcoming intro to lace class - Universal Yarn Cotton Supreme.

It has a great texture and sheen, I'm super excited to work with it and see how it works up.

Sock's & Beer Cozy for the Husband

I've been making good headway on the socks for my hubby.  There were several attempts before I settled on this pattern.  I found it difficult to find a pattern that would work well for men's socks.  Plus my husband isn't really one for cables or other details.  So I settled on a ribbed sock.  The yarn is Dragonfly Fibers Djinni Sock in a limited edition color way.

Annnd, I'm back!

Wow, what a hectic few months it has been!

I won't go into the details, but my husband and I are finally settled into our new house with months of every-other-weekend travel behind us.  In the midst of all this I have managed to accomplish some work. 

First, the snowflake scarf is complete.  This project was a lot of fun and my first adventure in color work.  I certainly will keep to working colorwork in the round in the future.  

The Addison Hat is also complete and the class taught.  This knit was super fun and worked up quickly.  I used it to teach an intro to colorwork and double-point needle class.  All of the participants had a great time and loved the project.  

The transition to double-points.  

The top is closing in. 

The finished product!

The interior of the bottom checkerboard colorwork.

Coming up next in the blog, work on socks and a coordinating beer coozy for my husband!