I made this for a friend’s graduation with silver wire and freshwater pearls, randomly placed in the knit cuff.

Okay. This is dangerously fun to make.

There is instant gratification, there is the adventure of something knew and unexplored, there is pretty when it’s all said and done. I really don’t want something like this to hook me, but I’ve already looked up how to make viking knit cord and I think I might try to make it but if I start can I stop or will I be just as obsessed and what good will come of this if I do start since I don’t wear much jewelry anyway?

Oh dear. I think I will blame my neighbor. She just *had* to give me a spare pair of jewelry pliers, didn’t she?!

I'm convinced my sister can take a much, much better photo of this thing. Jojo wasn't the best model for this.

"Don't say that, you'll hurt his feelings!" Karen said.
"It's ok, he can't read," I replied.

It's done, however! And it does happen to look like a pea pod. Whoa! This time, I took notes at least halfway through the project. Good thing it's knit in the say way on both sides, yes?

I am contemplating adding a leaf and trying to insert a piece of chenille stem (fancy name for "pipe cleaner") at each end so that I can curl the tips. I'm not sure about the chenille because of the wire---after all, this is for a baby---and they might be sharp. The only thing keeping me from making the leaf is lack of yarn! Out of what I had, I have only 2 1/2 feet left and it's probably not enough.

Thanks to my sister Joh and her family, I got my shipment of yarn from Elann.com on Tuesday but I only posted about it today because I was being a slacker about it. I got another three balls of their Den-m-nit yarn which, just like old-fashioned denim, shrinks when you wash it the first time and gets softer with age. I’m making a Raspy (on Ravelry) sweater with it. Originally, I only had enough to make a skirt but I decided I’d rather have a sweater. When I finish my friend’s sweater, I’ll move on to this project.

I also have a dozen balls of Camila which is 50% cotton and 50% linen. I’ve never used it, but it’s assigned to the Apres Surf Hoodie (on Ravelry) which I’ve eyed for a long time. I’m thinking the yarn is the wrong gauge but I’ll figure out how to make it work. Heh. This yarn is also supposed to soften as it ages. I wasn’t that crazy about the blue I got because I thought it had a tiny hint of green but the longer I look at it, the more I like the results I picture in my head.

But, first things first: pea pod (75% done), central park hoodie, Ahlstrom Bodice (while there’s a chance to wear it) and then these two.

And, somewhere in there, I will be working on women’s retreat stuff. Hehe. I am really looking forward to that! I have to plan out designs that a few other ladies can help me with.

Another one for Karen’s studio! I have such a good model. Jojo wouldn’t close her/his eyes, but did sit in it willingly for me.

This is knit in some Baby Bee eyelash yarn. My sister kept sending me yarn listings on Etsy with lots of color. During a trip to Hobby Lobby yesterday, I noticed a lot of their Yarn Bee stash was on a mega sale. It felt really soft and she wanted boy-ish colors so here we are!

Sorry for the blurry photo. I can’t remember why this was so hard to photograph. Oops.

This is the February Lady Sweater by Flintknits pattern. I had started working on this during our drive back from California this past January. It took a while, but NM helped me to find just the right buttons to compliment the sweater. So, no, it’s not using an extra double-pointed needle to keep it closed.

Where is it? It was a gift for my MIL. I wasn’t sure it would fit but she assured me, when she called last night, that it fit perfectly (that was a relief!). It was a birthday present, and she said her friends would like it, too, when she wore it for their night out. I knew she’s like the color, too, and the name “February Lady” is just perfect.

I can finally blog it. I’m hoping to make my own FLS at some point, we’ll see. The list of things I need to knit keeps changing–mostly in length!–but it’s all good.

Last night, the only thing completed on this hat was the back part plus three or four rows of the gusset (I do hope that's what it's called).

Today, I was "inspired" by the fact that I have been on the couch all day with some bug. Amazing how something so small can cause so much disruption, isn't it? But after having slept through who-know-how-many episodes of The Dog Whisperer, I picked up my project and got down to business.

What do you think? I'm so giggly over it, it's pathetic. This was sans-pattern! I got brave (thank you, Thurs. knitting group for your example) and went for it. I even took some notes if you can believe that.

I saw a scarf someone had done that was full of these loops then decided I wanted to make another baby hat rather than finish up the ribbing of the sweater I am knitting. I can't wait for my sister to take a picture of someone precious in it! Not that our model, Jojo isn't precious but, you know.

As seen on Ravelry. A view of the back on Flickr.

Back to the couch for me!

Last night, the only thing completed on this hat was the back part plus three or four rows of the gusset (I do hope that's what it's called).

Today, I was "inspired" by the fact that I have been on the couch all day with some bug. Amazing how something so small can cause so much disruption, isn't it? But after having slept through who-know-how-many episodes of The Dog Whisperer, I picked up my project and got down to business.

What do you think? I'm so giggly over it, it's pathetic. This was sans-pattern! I got brave (thank you, Thurs. knitting group for your example) and went for it. I even took some notes if you can believe that.

I saw a scarf someone had done that was full of these loops then decided I wanted to make another baby hat rather than finish up the ribbing of the sweater I am knitting. I can't wait for my sister to take a picture of someone precious in it! Not that our model, Jojo isn't precious but, you know.

As seen on Ravelry. A view of the back on Flickr.

Back to the couch for me!

Newborn size, hat for my sister to use for her photo studio.

Knit in Knit One, Crochet Two's Baby Boo yarn (45% bamboo, 55% nylon) which is so, so soft. I used size 6 needles and knit a bit tightly which is good. The yarn calls for size 5s but I guess it worked out anyway.

The pattern is the Berry Baby Hat by Michelle Sabatier.

Our model is Jojo, my little one's favorite stuffie and companion.

Last Friday, after realizing what the date was, I took the boys to the Wildflower Center. Each January, the Center offers free admission. Now granted, it’s winter so most of the trees are bare and there aren’t a whole lot of wildflowers actually in bloom. But that doesn’t stop the boys from enjoying hikes on the trails and watching for butterflies and pretending to be secret agents on a hunt for some imagined perpetrator.

Afterwards, we searched out one of two letterboxes in the area. That was a neat one! We do try to keep our stamp, book and list of Austin area letterboxes in the car at all times but we’ve not done anything with it since last August!

Saturday was fun for me. I got to go to a baby shower and I made the little one a red beanie (since it’s near Valentine’s Day). I was going to make booties, but I didn’t have enough yarn. So sad! I found a pattern for a really cute pair. I will probably still try to make it. I ended up getting onsies and red socks to match the hat instead.

Later that day, we decided to take Sprocket for a walk and a hunt for another letterbox. Sans camera this time, but that’s ok. We did see a woodpecker, pointed out to us by another family hiking near us. It looked a lot like this one here, though the site says it’s habitat is further east of us. We also found a deer leg—yuck, I know—with bits of sinew, fur and one “nail” left on a toe bone. No real “meat” left though Sprocket got really excited about it. We’ll be taking that to the nature center some time soon so the boys can trade it for something else (probably another bone).

Yesterday afternoon we had to go and do more hiking. What can I say? The weather has been gorgeous and it would have been a shame to waste it indoors. I wanted to go visit the Umlauf sculpture garden, but it turns out that was closed. We did find ourselves on the back side of Barton Springs Pool, however. We ended up on the side where the water lets out and people bring their dogs to swim. The kids asked—begged, pleaded—to wade in the water and hubby relented and said yes. NM was charged with bringing Sprocket into the water so she could get used to it (she’s still chicken around water). She only thrashed about for a little bit. She was happy because she got to meet a bunch of other dogs.

She’s so funny: she barks at people and other dogs because they won’t pay attention to her and goes into instant submissive mode if another dog capitulates and says hi. If a person says hi, she jumps all over them. Can you say extrovert?

Pics of happy boys and not-so-happy dog are here.

We would have stayed longer except that what hubby was worried about happened: J fell a couple of times on the slippery, mossy rocks and got his clothes soaking wet. Eventually, the cool breeze and waning sunlight got to him and we headed home to a yummy dinner of bagels, cream cheese and lox!

For my friend, AM at church. Unfortunately, I had to hand it to someone to give to her.

She was so sweet and asked me to make a hat for her and I immediately thought of this yarn from my stash, Lion Brand Cotton Ease in purple.

The pattern is based on Silver's Palindrome hat (yep, it's reversible) but I changed the cables a little bit just to see if I could.

Bummer is that it's really cold and I'm not sure if it should be in wool instead. Hey, we got snow after all! Well, we'll see. Maybe I'll make her another because I'll use any excuse to knit, you know ;)

* * *

And Now For Something Completely Different

I have to run to Target to buy duffle bags. Dunno why I want to share that, I just do. I'm yawning like crazy and I probably should just sit on my couch with my NM and watch the show with him. But we need to pack and, well...we don't know what we did with our suitcases when we moved.

Hmmm.

I'll go out after the show.