Some new hobbies?

 Hey everyone.....how are you?  I think I have a couple of new hobbies to show you.....but first....I finished Paige's sweater!

Just to see I made two....here they are together...you can see I have worn the crud out of mine.  I need to get another one finished so I do not always wear the same one over and over again....LOL!  The colors have faded a touch and it shrunk (lengthwise) a little, but it fits and I love it.  I hope she loves it too.

I have caught up on my Ankers sweater by doing 2 days worth each day.

and I pulled out this one and divided the sleeves and crocheted the sleeves. I might run out of yarn on this one but we will see.

Okay....that is all my knitting ......but like my title aludes to.....I have some new hobbies I started.  First is Cross Stitch.  I used to do Cross Stitch several several several several years ago.  And I think in the past several years I showed a little bit of cross stitch here and there.....but as I was cleaning out the garage I have come across some cross stitch I bought over a decade (possibly 2) ago!  Here is the one I decided to start.  Now, do not make fun that barely anything is done, but I messed up and I had to rip out a bunch.

Secondly I started diamond painting.  Brent and Britny (Lupe's friend that are also my friends now) got me this diamond painting kit this past Christmas.  Now I have purchased several DP sets for myself in the past and even Antonio did a little bit of diamond painting....so, I dug out my big tub of dp stuff and and pulled out the gift they gave me and got started......it is looking good so far!

I had dinner with Paige and her family this past Friday and she made a super delicious meal.....turkey meatballs:

and lastly a picture of my beautiful aunt and uncle that live in Washington State.

Have a great week!

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!

Makeup is a BIG DEAL!

I am back from California....I went with my daughter to LA and Pasadena to IMATS.  It is International Makeup Artists Trade Show....let me tell you what....Makeup is a BIG DEAL!  The lines where LONG....here is just one line (time lapsed):

After we got in, there were just more and more lines.....but we had a fantastic time!  She even snap chatted how good I was doing!

Paige got some stuff that was regularly sold out...and some exclusive stuff....she even saw Jaclyn Hill (who is a very big deal).  There was even a kiosk/vending machine for makeup at the airport (yes, we got some).

The apple really does not fall far from the tree here....these are her makeup purchases just for Saturday (look familiar to a bunch of yarn laying out on a bed?)....while she did not buy a whole lot on Sunday, we did still go again on Sunday before flying home.

Here are the bands for both days:

I did go to one yarn store called The Altered Stitch (I think they host Stephen and Steven soon)...it was a lovely shop, but a little ironic for me.  I wanted to get some local to CA yarn and they not only had Madelinetosh (from Dallas) but they also had Texas Dyed Wools yarn (from Austin)....ha, ha!  I did not buy anything (see how good I am), but it was nice to go.

Now you are probably wondering if I got to knit at all (I mean, this is a knitting blog)....well, I did....while I was in line!  I did not knit much on the planes, but that is because my ears were bothering me (they still are).

I worked on the fingerless mitts for my cousin.....remember I barely had them started at the beginning of the year...I saved them for this trip:

I have the second mitt to the second red stripe....so they are coming along.  I also finished my January Socks!  These are Desert Vista Dyeworks in the Flintstones Colorway!

Lastly, I worked on my Karee Shawl:

Now, I have a couple of stash enhancements....but I won one of them!

I won a skein from Brazen Stitchery in the Northman colorway!  I love it!  Thanks Stacey!

and I bought a bag for a cross stitch project....along with Q Snap Covers!  I love the sheep!!

Oh, I also have to tell you that I had to take Antonio to the dr this past week for his vaccinations....he was such a great trooper, we got a 529 pc lego set.....he loved putting it together and playing with it!

Well, that is all I have...but I leave you with a sight seeing picture (Pinches Tacos...LOL) and pictures of the sunset at the Santa Monica Pier.

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!

Memorial Day Weekend

How was your Memorial Day Weekend?  I hope everyone had a fantastic Memorial Day and I want to say 'Thanks' to all the men an women out there that server for our country!

Knitting.....do you remember last week when I said I 'almost' had a grand slam?  Well, I finished those black rainbow socks Monday evening.  I love them!

I got a lot of knitting done on my Hiya Hiya KAL socks...this is also in the Dachshund colorway and I friend of mine asked me if there is purple in the sock yarn too (like the purple in the pashmina I got for Camp Loopy)....and there is, it may just be a little hard to see.  My boyfriend says it looks like I spilled bleach on the sock on the left....MEN!  sheesh!

I also worked on my 'Your Beautiful' shawl....I am only about 7.21% done (yes, you know I have a spreadsheet on this)....and I am enjoying it.

Well, I think that is all I 'hand' knitted on.......but I do have a couple of knitting machines.  I have a large one that I have no clue how to use, and I have a small one like for children to use and make scarves and hats and stuff.

I pulled out one of them this weekend to knit a blank!

Why am I knitting a blank you ask?  Well, some of my SNB friends have been dyeing their own yarn...so a few ladies were getting together at one ladies house for us to dye yarn.  I wish I would have taken more pictures of 'the process', but I had gloves on my hands and microwaves to watch time on and niddy noddies to wind yarn on.......  I dyed 2 yarns....a blank and a 'cake' of yarn.  The blank I knit to be a gradient from black to silver to orange (of course you knew orange would be in there)....it was called tangelo!

There is the blank:

Here is the yarn after niddy noddy:

and here is the hank

Then, I died a cake of yarn....it was a loose cake and I wanted a chocolate brown on the outside and an orange on the inside....I did get some brown into my orange, but I am still in love with it.  I really wish I would have taken a picture of the cake when it was being dyed, but oh well......

Then, there was a lady there that had a knitted blank that she wanted to go from light color (almost all white) to a slowly darker 'rose' color....when this was wet and she was offering it to anyone, it looked a little orangeish...but I can see now it is mostly all dusty pinkish....but I still like it...she was unhappy with it, I thought it was pretty and I just traded her some bare yarn because I did not want it to just go to waste......ha, ha!

Hmmmmmmm, what else did I do this past week.....Oh, I tried to crochet a hat as extra credit for Loopy Academy.  This hat is way bigger than I thought it would be, but I just need to do one row of single crochets and make the bow and it is done.

A couple of weeks ago I showed you some cross stitch patterns I had bought (half way down).  They were of Shaun the Sheep.  Well, out of all 4 there was one on 6 ct white aida cloth (that means 6 stitches per inch).  So, since I have not cross stitched in forever, I thought I would start with something quick and easy.....I am not done, but I have gotten a lot done.  The other 3 cross stitch sets I got are 14 ct white aida cloth, so, smaller squares!  Here is the first one:

I had also been listening to some of the older Suburban Stitcher Podcasts.....I think Dianne used to be a pretty big cross stitcher before she started knitting....anyway, on an episode early this year she was showing a 'cross stitch holder' that her mom had made and she was going to try to make some and put them in her shop.  Well, I did not see any in her shop, but I contacted her and she had a prototype to sell me...it was with 'geek' fabric and it was orange.....I loved the fabric (reminds me of The Big Bang Theory).....and here it is....it will hold an 11x11 QSnap, and I only had sizes 6x6 and 8x8, so I ordered an 11x11.  I hope it is here soon.

Oh....I almost forgot....I won a project bag and yarn on Instagram!  Yahoo!  She is going to mail it till late next week because she knows I am about to go out of town for the retreat.  Her name is Jennifer and she has an etsy shop called The Ultimate Bag Lady and she paired up with Texas Dyed Wool....I cannot wait to get this......

Well, that is really all I have.....now.....this coming weekend is the Knitting Retreat at my sister's lake house.  Here are some pictures from last year...I really look forward to this weekend every year.  I cannot wait for Friday to get here!  My sister got a new dock/deck built and I cannot wait to see it.


Oh, and Darlene brought me a Turtle Made spindle.....so, I may be spinning at the lake this weekend too!  Thank you Darlene!!!

Have a great week!