Blankets in July!!!!

I think we have all heard of the Christmas in July saying....well, for me it is Blankets in July.  I know, I know...it is too hot to be working on blankets....and you are right...but my boss and his wife are expecting a baby girl in October....so I got some new yarn and had to get started.  I am about 1/2 way done with the yarn...so I hope I am about 1/2 way done with the blanket....LOL!

Then, Paige broke her toe last Monday......

And she is frustrated with her work....

So I thought a finished blanket would cheer her up.....so I finished the big blanket for Paige...this thing is over 8 feet tall.  Jaime is holding it above his head with arms stretched out and I still had a few more rows to do after this picture.  I had Antonio all weekend and he loves it...let me snap a picture of him with him pretending like he is sleeping.

Those are my blankets in July!

Now, I have one more stash enhancement....I got a new Bags By Awesomegrannie bag....I put my Salacious shawl in it....I love this bag!

What else did I work on this week?  My July Socks....I got both heels done!  I tried to switch to DPN's (because I like to try them every once in a while and see if I like them) but my love for DPN's was not happening.....so back to magic loop for me.

and my Spire.....I am still behind according to my chart I made.  I think I will just redo the chart and instead of doing 812 stitches a day, I will bump it up to whatever is needed to still finish by end of August.

Well, that is all I have.....I had a very exhausting weekend with Antonio....I usually walk about 5,000 to 7,000 a day....when I had Antonio, my fitbit says 13,301 steps Friday, 13,700 steps Saturday, and 15,586 steps yesterday (that is actually a record for me for one day!)....but it was worth every min.....seems I wore him out too!

Have a great week everyone.....Here is a beautiful handmade card I got from a friend, Brigit, for helping her with a KAL....I Love it!

Here is a great picture that was shared by my friend Pauline in a Ravelry group...I want a mailbox like this!

I love these nails!

Happy Happy Happy Knitting everyone!

Thank you Veterans!

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day and I do not want to forget to say a big Thank you to all our Veterans out there!

There was a Fiber Festival this past weekend very close to me.  It is called "Kid 'n Ewe and Llamas Too"...it is located in Boerne, TX, which is just about a 30 drive from me.  I went with Darlene, and Carol (a lady that faithfully comes to my Stitch N Bitch and also runs the Sunday SNB).  When I first got there, I got one picture with some friends....and from that point on, it was like I forgot I had a camera.  There were many, many gals from all over Texas from the online group of LSSK (Lone Star State Knitters)......Here is my only picture I got (from left to right....Shama, Alice, Alice's husband Richard, and me)

But here are some other pics I snagged from friends......

Beverly (Sexy Mod), Vicki (Chief Mod), Alice (GrandMa Mod), and Joyce

Couple of cute alpacas

The three mods, Beverly, Vicki, Alice

Shama and Alice

It was a great time had by all!  I bought some Brooks Farm Yarn...in the SA17 colorway...I love it because of the specks of black and of course specks of orange.

I also got some transitions yarn....this is yarn by Done Roving (the makers of Frolicking Feet) and the yarn changes color and is specifically for a shawl.  I am going to make Danielle with this colorway.  I also want to get the Campfire colorway to make Noelle, but I need to probably wait till after Christmas before I buy anything else....plus, Shannon (the owner of Inskein) has not written up the pattern yet.

You can see a picture of the Octoberfest Colorway knitting up here.

I also got a cute ChiaoGoo dpn case....I love my Hiya Hiya's....but the case is a little more cumbersome and this one zips close...so now this case holds my Hiya Hiya dpn needles.

Scarf Swap.....my scarf swap sister received her package, but has not yet been home to open it....she should be home tomorrow....but, I did get my scarf swap from Mary P in the LSSK group...she lives here in San Antonio and she way out did herself.  She knitted me a gorgeous cowl in Malabrigo Worsted in the Vermillion Colorway...it has gorgeous cables and I have already worn it in this chillier weather we are having in SATX.  She also got me a mug that says "hooker & ball tickler with a needle habit", some tea, hazelnut chocolate (that is all gone already), a reusable bag, and some Birdy's Baubles Stitch Markers....I love it all!  Thank you Mary!

Now to take you back.....way back.....to the days when I was crocheting 3 different bags....it was around August of last year....and I finished my 2nd crochet bag....and Darlene was working on one too....well, we all went to a knitting retreat at my sister's lake house, and one best friend, Ailene, did not have anything left to crochet on, so she was going to take Darlene's Crochet bag and work on it.....well, Ailene got busy and she never worked on it, and I recently saw Ailene and was able to get Darlene's bag.....I worked on it some.....then noticed a mistake (do you see the thinner row in the purple section about 7 rows down?)

So I ripped..... 

and re-crocheted......I still have a little more to do to finish this for Darlene (she did sew in the lining of all three of my bags, so I owe her big time....and am happy to do it) but I ran out of yarn....so I will get more yarn from Darlene today and hope to finish this week. 

Then there is the Stephen West MKAL.....I finished clue 1 last week and showed you....well, clue 2 came out about 7 pm on Thursday (a little early) and the first step is brioche.....I have never done brioche knitting before, so he recommended a swatch:

Then, on to the shawl:

Here is a little:

Close up:

Now some more: 

And some more:

Will this ever end?

Yes!  Brioche section finally done!

But this is not the end of clue 2.....I have 26 rows of stripes I need to do, then black trim....so I got about 7 rows of stripes done yesterday....19 more to go......ARGH!

I am not sure if you noticed that somewhere in there my shawl went from a clear cord to a red one.  I was using my dyakcraft needles, but the dark green seemed to rubbing off on the needle, so while at Kid N Ewe, I got a 47" size 6 metal needle so I would not have that problem anymore!

The only other things I knitted on this week was Paige's never ending Breezy Cardigan sweater, and I did line one repeat on these socks...I need to have these done by end of November so I better get with it.

Lastly, my Strickmich!Club package 4 came in today!  I am pretty excited!  I love the little poncho, but I am not much of a green and blue gal, so I am not sure if I will knit this or sell it.......

That is really all I have this week....It may be picture overload, but I know I prefer to see more pictures than words....so I hope I did not 'over talk'.

I leave you with a picture of Antonio "cutting my hair"and some knitters stuff....most of you know his mom is a barber and he sees his mom cut lots of hair.....so he was doing the motions with a nail brush....thankfully not real scissors!


Have a great week everyone!  Happy Happy Happy Knitting......