Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Hello all my followers out there (LOL).  How has your week been?  How's the knitting?  Yesterday was my birthday and I had a great birthday....thank you to all who sent me birthday wishes.  I had one friend make me a special card I wanted to share with everyone....I just love it!!  She said the flower reminded her of YARN!  Yeah!






My knitting has slowed down since I finished the Lazy Girl Shawl....and, I actually already have yarn to make another one (yes, I am crazy addicted to knitting...hence the name, knitphomaniac)!

Here are the colors for my next Lazy Girl Shawl (Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in Black Pearl and Jitterbug in Sahara):






I have been SLOWLY working on my January Socks....the deadline is in 2 days (the 28th) and I do not think I will make it....here is their progress:



I have also wanted some 'no think' knitting, so I pulled out my nuvem....I have only done about 50 grams of 300+, but hey, at least I pulled it out and knitted a little on it.  I have a friend making this (she is a speed knitter) and she just did the HUGE increase row...now she just has 6 rounds and binding off....she said all the stitches barely fit on a 47" circular....YIKES!  It just looks like a big lump of yarn, but here is a pic of my progress:



I leave you with pics of my daughter with her son (my angel grandson, Antonio).....they make me smile everyday (along with my knitting)!




Happy Tuesday everyone!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Hello Everyone.  I have had lots going on.  I finished Lazy Girl, my daughter graduated from high school and started 'college' and I had a great mini vacation to look at some property in New Mexico.

Here is a picture of my property in NM:


I love the view of the Florida Mountains.....I am thinking this may be my retirement spot.  The drive was long (10 hours each way) so I will not be visiting a lot, but will try to go back soon ;)

On the knitting front, I got some new yarn from Rohrspatz & Wollmeise...it is in the We're Different lot "For Princesses" but I love it!  I am not sure what I am going to make with it.  It is more pink than red.


I also finished a scarf for Paige that I started in September of last year.  Yes, I made her wait too long for it.  I am going to try to get some UFO's off the needles, but Martina Behm came out with a new pattern called "Viajante" that I LOVE.....I think I will start a KAL for it that a ravelry group has posted. it starts March 2nd....now I just need to decide what color to make it in.

Here is the scarf:


I also did a test knit for a Mini iPad cover and finished it....it is just lacking the button:




And.....My Lazy Girl is also DONE!  Yippee!  I really liked this pattern so much, I am going to start another lazy girl shawl soon (because I have startitis)....I wore this one to my daughter's graduation ceremony!



Here is my gorgeous daughter (yes, I am biased) in her cap and gown.....I am sooooooo proud of her!


And here she is with her best friend, Bizzle, after the ceremony.....we went out to eat at the Cheesecake factory with 5 or 6 of her friends.



That is it for now....Happy Wednesday (Hump Day) Everyone!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Let me start with "Happy Valentine's Day Everyone"  To all the partners of fiber enthusiasts....remember:


About a month ago, my grandson was in the hospital with RSV and I made him a beanie to keep his head warm.  As promised, here is the pattern:



RSV Beanie

I made this beanie for my grandson when he had RSV.  When he was 4 months old, he had RSV and he had plenty of hats that I had made him while my daughter was pregnant with him.  As he got older, he outgrew the hats, and we live in South Texas so it does not usually get too cold to need a warm hat.  Well, at almost 14 months, he got RSV again.  My daughter took him to his great grandmother’s house on his father’s side and she said, “Oh, he needs a beanie on his head, do you want me to buy one for him?”  My daughter proudly said, “No, I will have my mom make him one.”  So I present you with the pattern for the “RSV Beanie” and a pic of my grandson (with a shirt that says “Sorry Girls, Mommy says No Dating”)


         


Size
One Size Fits most.  Approx. 7.5” wide and 7” tall

Yarn
1 skein HiKoo by Skacel SimpliWorsted

Needles
16” circular US 5 (3.75 mm)
16” circular US 7 (4.5 mm)
5 dpn’s US 7 (4.5 mm)

Notions
Tapestry needle
4 stitch markers (I like one of these to be different to indicate the beginning of the round)

Gauge
5-6 stitches per inch

Stitches
K – knit
P – purl
K2tog – knit 2 together
ssk – slip slip knit
PM - Place Marker
SM – Slip Marker

Pattern

CO 84 sts
PM and join in Round
Round 1-7: *K2, P2 Repeat from * till end

Round 8: K all stitches

Repeat round 8 until hat measures 4 ½” from cast on edge

Set up round:
K21, PM, K21, PM, K21, PM, K21

Crown Shaping
Round 1:  *SM, K2tog, K17, ssk, repeat from * till end of round
Round 2:  K all stitches

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 till there are 9 stitches in between each marker.  Switch to DPN needles when there are too few stitches to keep knitting in round.

Repeat Round 1 three more times until there are 12 stitches left, removing all markers except the marker that marks the beginning of the round.

Last Round: *K2tog, ssk Repeat from * till end

Cut yarn leaving a 6” tail.  Thread yarn on tapestry needle.  Run needle through all remaining stitches on hat and pull stitches together like a drawstring bag.

Weave in ends, and put on child to keep head warm.  I did not see any need to block mine, but if you want to block, you can.



                                                                                           
Happy Thursday everyone!

Monday, February 4, 2013

Hi everyone.  Can you believe it is already February?  WOW....time flies!  I hate to admit that I have not been knitting this last week as much as I usually do.

This past Saturday, I went on a motorcycle ride with my boyfriend and some friends to Bandera, TX.  They had their 8th annual Mardi Gras parade.  It was great!!!  I saw this cute dachshund with a boa on....I had to snap a picture (can you see the cute dog in the center?  Sorry I could not zoom!).


Sunday it was time to get ready for the big game....I was rooting for the Ravens amongst many 49er fans.  But I prevailed in the long run.  I was able to do about 7 pattern repeats during the game on my lazy girl shawl.  You can see that the decrease is coming along nicely.


I have also been working on the Socks for January SKA (I will get pics later) and I finished the sweater for my grand daughter's aunt's baby:


I also got my taxes done this past weekend.....Yippee!  I am glad that is out of the way.  I hope to get lots of knitting done this week and have lots of pics for you next week.

Happy Monday Everyone!