WOW....what a week!  I think I mentioned last week that I had a conference to go to in the Grapevine area and that started my crazy week.  The great news is that I got to meet two ladies from my online knitters group (Lone Star State Knitters).  I sooooo wish I had taken a picture, but we were so busy chatting that we all forgot.  We had a wonderful dinner at Salerno's in Flower Mound.  Then we went to a Starbucks down the road to chat and knit.  It was the best day of my entire week.  I also found out there was seminar/conference in the same hotel for "women who find and express their bliss by publishing online".  I did not know that a seminar/conference like that even existed.  It is called BlissDom'13.


I got lots of knitting done while in Grapevine.  I finished my Pagona shawl and I love it.  It was a little awkward to block, but it turned out great!!!  I used the yarn I won from Camp Loopy last year to make this.  I have fallen in love with Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere yarn!

Do you remember the hat and scarf I made for my cousin's daughter in Germany?  Well, her Birthday was this past Saturday and she got the package in time and love is.....she is very beautiful and it looks great on her.

Remember that KAL for Viajante I said I was going to do...well, there are two of them at the same time....I started that while at my hotel on Wednesday and worked on it a little bit yesterday.  I am 'almost' ready to join in the round.

I came home late Friday (after way too many hours in my car).  On Saturday, Jaime and I went for a much needed motorcycle ride.  We started at Javelina Harley where they were having a "Rockabilly Rumble" and then we rode to Sister Creek Vineyards near Twin Sisters, Luckenbach, Comfort and back home.  It was a great ride and I got a little sun burnt.

Do you remember the pin wheel blanket I cast on 820 stitches for?  Well, on Sunday I was knitting on it and my needle broke after I was on row 14 (more than one skein done) and I lost 116 stitches.  I tried to pick them up, but it was too frustrating.  I am overly bummed about it.  I am not sure if I will start over or not.  I just contacted Signature Needle Arts and they better replace it (I secretly want them to offer to knit it back to where it was before I had to frog the whole thing).  I threw away the 108 grams/224 yards (and yes, I was crying)!  

While I was gone, I had some deliveries on the way.  When I got back....I have a nice stack of boxes waiting for me....mostly wollmeise.  I really need to go on a yarn diet after this.....so here is my last shopping spree (for a while I hope).

I love all the colors.  I guess I was in a 'pink' mood last week.  I was hoping the last one on the right would have been a little brighter (like the 4th one from the right) but that is ok.  I will either sell it or find something to do with it.

I also got some cute tape measures....The Loopy Ewe had a Wollmeise update and when I purchased wollmeise from TLE (the three skeins on the left), these were already in my cart and hitched a ride to me....I really love the sock monkey!  I should have gotten two of him ;)

I think this week I will mostly be knitting on Viajante (Unless I decide to re try that 820 stitch cast on blanket).  Happy Knitting and Happy Monday to everyone!!!

Good afternoon!  I hope everyone had a great St. Patty's day!  I did not wear green yesterday, but I did not really go anywhere either.  I had SNB this past Saturday and I was impatiently waiting for a yarn delivery from the mail man.  I checked the mail 4 times before it finally made it at 2 pm.  I ordered yarn to make a "Reverse Pinwheel Blanket" for Alexxis (my newest grand daughter on the way).  I wanted to add a ruffle to this blanket, so I modified the pattern a little.  This little modification caused me to cast on 820 stitches....yup....820:

After SNB, I went to the deer lease with my boyfriend and it was very relaxing.  I was able to knit a lot more than I expected.  I knit 6 rows of 820 stitches, then did a k2tog around the entire row to give me 420 stitches, and now I am going to follow the eyelet pattern.  I have knit almost a whole skein so far:

I am still working on the pom pom blanket for Alexxis (she will get 2 blankets from me)....

Other than those two items, I knitted a little on a sweater I started almost 3 years ago for Celeste.  I do not have pics (yet) but I hope to post a picture of it finished really soon.

I went to a local grocery store and found these tiny oranges that I had seen commercials for.  They are called "Lil Cuties" and I thought I would give them a try......they are AWESOME and Antonio loves them!

On Wednesday of this week, I start a KAL for the Viajante pattern.  I will be making it in Tandoori Masala color.  I hope to have progress pics for you next week.  I am also going to a conference for the rest of this work week (I leave tomorrow) so I am hoping to get lots of hotel room knitting time.  It is in Grapevine, TX and I know a couple of knitting sisters in that area, so I hope to meet up with them too.  We will see.

Lastly, I leave you with a picture of the sunset at the deer lease from this past weekend.  I LOVE sunsets!

Happy Monday everyone and Happy Knitting!

Good afternoon everyone.  I have heard from a couple of friends that they actually read my blog.....so that was pretty encouraging.  Thank you to everyone that reads my ramblings about my obsession:  knitting!

This past week, I started a new lazy girl shawl!  You would think I would be tired of it, and I am...but I really do love the pattern.  I wear so much black to work, that I decided to make one with Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in black pearl, and Jitterbug Collinette in Sahara.  Here are the first 10 repeats.

I also finished the hat and scarf I was making for my cousin's daughter.  I think this set will be perfect for the cooler weather in Germany.  The picture of me is not so good (I was tired), but I wanted you to see how long the scarf is....it is about 6 1/2 feet long.

Now, my daughter in law sent me a picture of some really cute baby booties she wants me to make.  They are Crochet.  I will search ravelry for a pattern.  I am going to try to make them, but just in case....there is a lady at my SNB group (her name is Jo and she made the teal and sahara lazy girl that is gorgeous) that is an AWESOME crocheter....so I asked her if she would make a pair for my daughter in law.  She was so gracious and said 'Of course'.....so I told her that as soon as I find a pattern that I think is of these booties, I will send it to her.

Now, speaking of my daughter in law and my new grand baby....I started a pom pom blanket for the baby.  The room is pink and green.  Here is a picture of the baby room, my daughter in law in the room, the blanket I started, and the 4D image of my grandaughter, Alexxis Maranda Ramirez.

On my last post, I left you a picture of Dory from "Finding Nemo" saying "Just Keep Knitting, Just Keep Knitting.....etc" and I have been singing that to myself for weeks now.  Apparently, it is pretty catchy because another lady from my SNB group (Knit-Knerd) has started saying it all the time too.  So I leave with you with a picture I got from Facebook and I hope it is something to encourage you to "Just Keep Knitting"

Happy Monday everyone....Just keep knitting!

Good morning!  I have gotten a bit of some knitting mojo back.  I finished my January socks, just in the 'knit' of time for the Sock Knitters Anonymous group.

I got a touch of startitis, and I started a new scarf for my cousin's daughter, Lena.  They live in Germany.  Lena had told me a few months back that she wears a scarf every day and that she likes scarves with 'thick wool'.  So I went stash diving and found 3 skeins of Malabrigo worsted weight in Deja Vu colorway.  I am holding it double to make it 'really thick'.  I am also doing this scarf on size US15 needles, so it goes really quick.  I ordered 2 more skeins (I think it will take 4 to finish the scarf) and with the one extra, I am going to make a matching cabled hat.  The pattern is from a lady on my LSSK group...she is awesome and always makes the greatest patterns.  It is called the Austin Slouchy Cable Beanie.  I have not started it yet, but it will be awesome when done.  Here is the scarf (I started on Sunday and it is going really quick):

My SNB group all finished their Lazy Girl Shawls.  I am especially proud of Erin and Carol who each finished in the last hours......and Erin won the prize of multicolored yarn that Raquel donated, along with the stitch markers that Jo made.  Congrats Erin!

I am not sure if I have mentioned this on my blog, but my daughter started Barber College.  She wants to be a barber and work her way through College to get her accounting degree.  Anyway, she decided to cut Antonio's hair this weekend.  It was his first hair cut and her first performance of a hair cut.....he did a lot of wiggling and 'not staying still'.  She cut the palm of her hand (those are some sharp scissors) but she got it all done.  It made his hair even curlier than before.  I love his deep blue eyes and curly hair!

Lastly I leave you with the cutest picture of Dory from Finding Nemo.  When I watch Antonio, we watch Finding Nemo A LOT!  I love the part where Dory says "Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming...." and I often sing it to Antonio.  Well, another lady from LSSK found this and I just had to steal it....Thank you Alice!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

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!

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!

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!