HAPPY SUPER BOWL!!

Yes, I know that not a lot of knitters are also football fans...but you guys know me...I am a football fan and MY TEAM WON!  It is not that I am so much a Patriots fan, but I am an anti-sea hawks fan (sorry sea hawks fan)!

I knitted on my socks during the Super Bowl....I just need the ribbing on the cuffs on both of these and I am done.  I hope to finish today so I can post it as my last FO for Down Cellar Studios Podcast Pigskin Party.

Last week I told you that I had a small surgery scheduled.....everything went fine and I have had some extra knitting time....not as much as I would have liked to have...but I am knitting more and more each day it seems.  I was pretty far behind on my 'A Day to Remember' Shawl....so I redid the numbers and was till behind and I am almost caught up...I think I have 8 more rows to be completely caught up....I am at about 56.9% and need to be at 64.18% by the end of the day....we will see how that goes.

I worked just a little b it (maybe 30 min and 3 rows worth) on my 2nd weigh it shawl

I also cast on something new....but in order to defend myself (yes, sometimes I feel I need to defend myself), I want to tell you about a new knitter to our lunch group of knitters....I knit with 4 other ladies at lunch and sometimes we are asked if they can come and knit with us (most need to be taught how to knit).....yes, we vote them in (everyone has to agree).....so our newest member to be voted in is Marla....she is super sweet and has really picked up the knit stitch very well.  I started a hat for her since we were not ready to teach her to purl yet, so I cast on and did the ribbing (but no, this is not the item I am defending having cast on):

She has already knit 4-5 inches on this hat and is doing awesome....she saw that Darlene and I were knitting socks in self striping yarn, so she really wanted to try that....I did not want to throw her into Judy's magic cast on or kfb stitch...so I cast these on for her too (no, this is also not the item I am defending having cast on):

Marla and Darlene came to my house during lunch on Thursday of last week...they wanted to see how I was doing after surgery and Marla wanted to see my messy stash....well, she also went shopping in my stash....over $200 of shopping in my stash....I was fine with it...some of the yarns I will replace with the exact yarn and others I will not....Guess what happens after that?  Knit Picks has their Biggo yarn on sale......well, since I was on a yarn diet, I kind of thought up in my head that if I sold $200 worth of yarn, I could buy a little yarn since it was on sale...so I got 11 skeins of biggo in black (and broke my yarn diet after 29 days)....I have always wanted to make the Chateau Shrug with this yarn but did not want to pay $8.49 a skein for it....the shrug will take 8 skeins, and then I have 3 more to make another gaptastic cowl for me, and I already had 3 in my stash for a gaptastic cowl for Paige or Bizzle....now, I do not have the yarn I just ordered yet, but since I had 3 skeins in my stash....I cast on the Chateau....yes, this is the item I am defending for casting on....

Then, do you remember back in July when Darlene got me that Beaver Slide Mule Spun Yarn and we were going to make the INK cardigan?  Well, I did cast it on and I did like 3 or 4 rows.  Darlene had gotten much farther than me...but she was not feeling the yarn for the INK Cardigan, so she told me she was going to rip it and do the Hitofude Cardigan.  Well, I have one OTN in Black, but I love that cardigan so much, I want to do a second one and I will use the same yarn that Darlene is using...so I ripped out INK, did a tiny gauge swatch, and just barely did the cast on the other day and this yarn is awesome!

I also gave myself a new goal....now this is all Darlene's fault...she had to show me a picture of a sock drawer on Instagram of all hand knit socks and now I want to have a drawer like this for myself...so I think you will see a lot more sock knitting from me.

I have a few stash enhancements to show you....I got a new case for my new sock needles.  This case is from Graces Cases and it holds the 5" size 0-3 interchangeable set.....it is pretty cute.  I have some material like this with a sheep on a balloon.....super adorable!

I also got some magnetic board, a magnifying ruler, and a long piece of magnet I want to cut up for my Knitters Pride Pattern holders....

Well,  I think that is about all I have....I did make 3 dishes of Lasagna for Super Bowl and I have lots of left overs too.

I leave you with a few of pictures that have a theme that remind me of my few days past and I hope it is also what my future has in store for me....PJ's, my fur babies, and my darling grandson too!

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!!

4th Of July coming up

Happy Happy Hump Day.  Today is like Friday to me because I have a long 4 day weekend.  Tomorrow is the 4th (Happy Independence day USA) and I took Friday off.

I plan on doing lots of knitting!

I finished the Sock Monkey sweater for Antonio, I am not 100% sure if it fits yet, but I hope to try it on him tonight (maybe more pics in the future).

Now on to Camp Loopy!  Project 2 started Monday, July 1 and I cast on during lunch and got 6 or 7 'teeth' done...I was soooo excited!

But then I realized that my 3rd tooth was 'off'.  I kept knitting because I did not think it was that bad, but in the long run, I decided to tink back to the 3rd tooth and retry:

Then, I realized my stitch count was still off but could not find my error...I am a numbers person and I knew this would bother me and I ripped all the way back and have my 2 stitches cast on....I will try again at lunch today!

In other news....my parents got a new dog!  Their last dog passed away on Christmas Eve last year and they did not think they would get another one.....but my sister found a great website for a no kill animal organization and gently pushed them to look and they found Bella!  She is perfect for them.  She is 15 months and is a little rambunctious (did I spell that right?) but she is perfect (that is a little sock monkey toy she has...I just love sock monkeys)!

I also had a great surprise this past weekend.  One of my knitting friends,  was in town from Austin.  We texted over the weekend and went out to an early dinner on Sunday!  It was a great dinner.  Paige had to work so I took Antonio with me.  Judy played "Peek-A-Boo" with him and he ran around the restaurant that, thankfully, was fairly empty.  Thank you Judy for a great dinner, taking pictures and playing with Antonio!  Here is a great picture that Judy took of me and Antonio and one  that we asked the waitress to take of the 3 of us.

There is a giveaway on Facebook for a free yarn tender...these are super cool (I have also seen them used to wrap wine bottles).  You can go to her website to see all about the Yarn Tenders, but before you send her an email with your shipping address, be sure to Like her Facebook Page and send her a screen shot that you did Like her facebook page.....I am anxiously awaiting mine!

Remember my friend, Jo, that made awesome hats, booties, and leg warmers for my two newest grand daughters?  Well her crafty-ness is awesome.  She makes these cool magnetic boards so you can put your patterns on them and a magnet over them so you can follow your pattern perfectly.  I asked her if she could make me a longhorn one and she went one step further....she made a longhorn one that is also motorcycle themed.  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It is sooooo awesome!!!!  Thank you Jo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, it seems like my week was busier, but there is really not anything else to report.

I hope everyone has a fabulous 4th of July and a super duper weekend!  Here is a 4th of July Knitting Monster pic I found:

Happy Happy Knitting everyone!