Stage One Done.....Stage Two Pass

Hey everyone....How are you?  I am great!  I finished Stage One of TdS!

Stage Two came out last Wednesday, but I am passing on it.  It has the small little 2 and 3 stitch cables and I really worked my fingers to the bone to get stage one done, that I was afraid that phase 2 would really hurt my hands.

Then, Louise from Biscotte Yarns had to come out with a free Biscotte Brioche sock pattern.....I fell in love

For the above sock, she used these colors:

so I pus some of my Biscotte stash together and came up with these two....what do you think?  I think the dark brown will be the best!

It has been really hot here lately, and the dogs have been surviving the heat.....being lazy

But the grass really needed mowing (they were making paths and trails in the back yard)....so I finally mowed the backyard on Saturday morning and the front yard on Sunday morning (there is a big pile of grass behind precious (a little to the left), but it is hard to see....the grass was super tall.

As for knitting.....well, I already showed you that I finished Stage One......so I guess I should show you what I cast on new.......Hitofude.....again!  Yes, I started a Hitofude in 2014 and frogged it a couple of years ago and now I am doing another one.  This one is going to be gradient and in cotton/acrylic (Wolltraum Yarn).  I am super excited about this cardigan.  I am a little worried that I will not get to the outside black color....possibly not even to the 2nd to last color.  But we will see.  Maybe we need to buy a smaller skein for the next hitofude (Oh yes, there will be more)!

I worked on my temperature blanket (apparently, Purl thought she could help)...I am still about 12 days behind, but that is better than 22 days behind...LOL!

and I worked on Rosanna's shawl.  It is a fairly mindless pattern and I am enjoying it.

That is really all I have for the week.  Oh, I got a new Instant Pot and made Baby Back Ribs and a roast.....they were both yummy....I was really proud of myself (probably too proud).  I did not get a picture of the roast, but you have to trust me that it was good...and the ribs were falling off the bone...so good!

I did have Celeste and Cat on Friday....they wanted to see the dogs (I like to think they wanted to see Oma too, but I am sure they just wanted to see the dogs)......I got a picture of Celeste with Precious....but Cat was off being crazy with Antonio....LOL!

While Precious was with Celeste, Purl and Max hung out with me....LOL!

Antonio was playing with play foam and said, "Ga-Ma!  Look, I'm knitting!"

Well, that is really all I have.  If you are in one of the states that are melting right now....stay cool.  We have a heat advisory today till 7 pm....it is supposed to hit 107 Fahrenheit today.

Have a great week!

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!

I have succumed to the Temperature Blanket.....

Hi everyone.....I hope you have been keeping warm!  Paige still has no heat at her house....so she, Antonio and Jazz are staying with me and Precious.  Precious is less than thrilled to be around Jazz....poor girl!  Plus, Paige is not expected to have any heat till at least next week....so she is frustrated and I feel for her....but thrilled she and Antonio and Jazz are staying with me :)

Now, as far as Precious' frustrations, I know that Jazz can have quite a bit of energy, but she can also be very sweet and cuddly!  Here she is in a few cuddly or sleeping pics.....and there is a picture of her trying to cuddle up to Precious, but Precious just turns her face.

I decided to do a midweek post to let you know about the crazy I have succumbed to....Turns out the Thursday Night SNB group is doing a Temperature scarf.....there is a handful of us that are committed to a yarn diet....so when Tami (great friend and from the Thursday Group and committed to the yarn diet) texted about the temperature scarf, Darlene of course chimed in that she wanted to make a blanket (which she has been saying since the beginning of the year).....long story short....we decided that if we all buy yarn for just this project we are okay....we checked in with each other this is not cheating! 

Needless today, day 16 was the day I bought 13 skeins of yarn (an affordable $50) for a Temperature blanket.

Now, we are still in agreement that this is not cheating....so I am right back onto the yarn diet and no more buying yarn...but we will be very happy with a temperature blanket when all is said and done :)


We are using a Texas Temperature Chart (© CopyLeft - Becky’s Blog lots of fun schtuff )

These are the yarns we bought to match the above colors....starting in top left and going clockwise.....however....we put in an extra orange and took out the turquoise color and just shifted the colors down.....

With this cold snap we have been having I sent some socks to my mom....these are Fleece Lined Wool socks that I purchased from an online yarn store called Darn Good Yarn...and my mom loves them!  I am still going to make my mom some more hand knit wool socks...but these were just to hold her over with how cold we have been.

I have also been plugging away on my brioche blanket....I will try not to show this too often since it is such a slow slog of a knit...and I know it may not look like I have done a lot since Monday, but I have done 4 or 5 rows since then......

Well, that is all I have for a random mid week post!  Here is today's sunrise:

Have a great rest of the week!

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!

2018 Here We Come!

Are you ready for 2018?  Well it is almost here whether or not you are ready!  Sorry I did not post yesterday (Monday....my regular day) but it was Christmas and I was lazy and enjoying Antonio and Paige coming over!

Last week, almost right after I blogged, Darlene and I did our gift exchange and you know how fabulous she is!  She got me Knit Happens pajamas with matching mug, a Fullmosa Apple Watch band, an entire 3 month membership to the Harry Potter sock of the month club from Molly at a homespun house!  She also made me a tote bag with Pigs in mud....OMG, pigs in mud!!! This is the cutest fabric!!!🐖 🐷 Thank you Darlene!

It is funny how we both think so much alike because I got her pj's too, along with some shoes she has been trying to find, a basket, our regular annual dachshund calendars and I made her a sweater......yup, it was super secret knitting that I have not been able to tell you about till now.....but she loved it.  Now, the sweater is meant to be big, but the sweater I made Darlene is Big with a capital B.  I think it is a bit too long, but I couldn't change it and  (thankfully) she loves it......

 

So there is my secret knitting...when I entered the yardage into my knitmeter account, this sweater put me at exactly 12 miles this year....that is one mile per month and it was my silent little goal I had for myself, so I was just thrilled!

 

What else have I been doing?  Well, I worked a little on my Birthday Yarn Crochet Blanket......I am really enjoying working on this with the cooler weather....the last time I crocheted on it, it was around where my finger is in this picture....so I have almost doubled the size...but still have a long way to go!

 



Darlene and I also got a brilliant idea to start a new blanket!!!  We have been talking about "what are we going to do with all our one skeins of fingering yarn?"  Neither of us like one skein shawls, and both of us are a little 'over' shawls because we rarely wear them.....so why not make a huge blanket?  We are going to make Stephen West's Briochevron Blanket.....Darlene is going to use her Hippo yarn on one side and solids on the other.  I am doing oranges on one side and reds/purples on the other.  I am also doing it as a mystery.  I put all yarn in a plastic mailer bag and then put and R or O on it so I can pick a Red or Orange color.

Darlene's Yarn:

 My Yarn:

 Wrapped Yarn:

 Darlene's start:

 My Start:

Picking Up I-cord:

I was able to finish my set up rows.....I think Darlene and I will work on her set up rows at lunch today:

I think the only other thing I worked on this week was a cowl for Paige....she asked me to make this for her back in August......so I need to get this done.

And that ladies and gentlemen......is all I have in the knitting/crocheting world....However, if you want to hear about my Christmas....then keep reading.

First, last Friday I had precious groomed, I got picked up Antonio from Daycare and Paige brought me Jazz so I could watch them Friday and Saturday

Then....the call came....3:30 in the morning Paige called that she had been in an accident.  THANKFULLY, Everyone was okay...but I am not sure if I can say the same for her car, Betty.....we are waiting to hear from insurance to see if they total it out.

She is using my car this week while I borrow a car from Jaime.....so on to Christmas.....

Chris....who is Paige's ex, my son's best friend, and like a son to me....got me an amazing mug for Christmas....he actually went to Yarnivore (a local yarn shop) and picked this up for me....I LOVE IT!!!!!

Jaime gave me some beautiful "I Love Knitting" jewelry and a car decal

On Christmas Eve, it was time for church and seeing the whole family

 Celeste looks just like Paige.....

 

Then it was time for my daddy to open his sweater.......drum roll please:

 It Fits......Yeah!

My dad said it was VERY WARM....I told him it should be, it was 100% wool.  I know he wore it the next morning to walk Bella (the dog) in 40 degree weather and he said he was nice and toasty. 

As we were talking about me knitting the sweater.....my mom pulled out two sweaters she knit for her and my dad (matching) before I was born...I knew my mom knit a little before I was born, but not this much.....she did an amazing job on these sweaters!

Celeste had to model...and if you scroll back up and see Paige with a yellow/mustard hat on, my mom knit that too.

After my dad got his sweater and said how warm it was....my sister put it on and LOVED it....as soon as my sister walked out of the room, my brother in law said that my sister would love a sweater like that because she is ALWAYS cold.......so I asked my sister what color and she said red....more of a brick red than a candy apple red.....of course she also said only if she could pay for the yarn and also buy me a present....but I am hoping she forgets that part because I would just love to make her a sweater....so I ordered some Cascade 220 super wash in Red Wine Heather......my sister said to surprise her on the color and Paige picked this color over the Ruby I have.....so it should be on it's way this week.  It will be my project for the first ever Knitter's Gotta Knit KAL.....I will cast on December 31st  :)

So.....that was my amazing Christmas....I hope the picture overload was not too much!  I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and have a wonderful ring in of the New Year (I will be knitting or sleeping).  I will see ya'll in 2018!

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!