I have too many projects on the needles right now!! And all I want to do is cast on more. I think it’s the heat. These triple digit days have fried what was left of my pea brain. I have told myself I must finish two projects before casting on any new ones. Which two?

Well, the Springtime Bandit I’m knitting with Dream in Color Smooshy for one.

And then I think the Just Enough Ruffles (which is a gifty for my Mom).

Then I’m going to knit myself a sweater. And dream of winter and cold and ice and anything else that is frigid to take my mind off the searing hotness that is Texas.

Finally!! Shipwreck is done!!! And let me tell you, so hard to photograph!! It’s still on the blocking board (not dry yet, Dotty!) so hopefully tomorrow we will have a sunny day and there will be better photos.

Here is a small montage for you…

In the raw, soaking stage:

cooking away:

all done and getting a much deserved wool wash soak:

BLOCKING!!! (No, Dotty, still not dry!)

Yippee!!

I’m in that weird, what next phase. Shipwreck is done knitting,  just need to dye it. I just finished a hat. Now what? Do I start something big and time consuming? Do I do another small and quick? I’ve been purusing Ravelry and digging through my stash but nothing has inspired me to cast on. I want to knit something, but what?!?! Maybe what I really should be doing is cleaning house for my Mom’s upcoming visit. The Squid is turning 4 in one week!!

Okay, we have some winners! Now I need some addresses!!

One Sheep

Brown Bear

Kitten With a Whiplash

and Susie at Knitting Knoobie

Send me your addresses and I will send you some yarn!!! Thanks everyone for leaving a guess. I hope to have a finished Shipwreck to show off here sooner or later!

P-)

Not Shipwreck. No, not Shipwreck by any means. Once again life has gotten in the way, which it has a tendency to do to me. Often. So, with no finish of Shipwreck in site, I’m closing the contest. Instead I will draw names for a winner! Yes I said names.  Since I sucked so bad at knitting and ruined my own contest, I will reward y’all by drawing a couple of names. I’ll draw those names tonight! Stay tuned!

ps- Want to thank all those that commented, so nice to see so many people in blogland stop by for a visit! (I really want to say something corny like, If I knew you were coming I’d have baked a cake, but I won’t)

Let’s have a contest!!! I am almost finished with Shipwreck!!! 14 rows and the cast off and I’m done. I’ll not consider the dyeing as being done for this contest, just the knitting portion of it. So, leave a comment with the date and time of day you think I will finish and you will win a prize!!! What will you win?!!?!?!? I dunno. Let’s see…hmm… how about a skein of lace weight yarn from my stash!! So, leave a color preference in your comment and I will see what I can do to please you! Unless you would rather have sock yarn. Ummm…let’s start over. Leave a comment here with date and time I will finish knitting Shipwreck and let me know if you want lace or sock yarn and color preferences!! Contest ends when I finish knitting my shawl. Could be today, could be tomorrow, could be next week! Good Luck!!

It’s coming along.

See my pretty beads

The lovely My Only Sunshine (who has two of the most beautiful young ladies in the whole world) tagged me to do 5 Things I Love About Being A Mom. Wow! That’s a tough one. I love being a Mom but I don’t know if I can define why I love being a Mom. So in no particular order, here are 5 of the many, numerous things I love about being a Mom.

1) The feeling I get when The Squid smiles at me.

2) That he has made me a different person and given my life an alternate  purpose and a special perspective.

3) When he comes and grabs my hand and pulls me away from what I’m doing to come play with him.

4) When he walks up to me and asks for a kiss.

5) That all of a sudden he now he has to do everything for himself. He’s such a big boy!

What a great time for something NEW!  There was a baby born today and I am SO glad I was wrong!  It looks like there is a crochet dress coming and it’s gonna be PINK! 

I can’t tell you how excited I am about this!  I have been looking on ravelry and found a lot of cute dresses, but haven’t decided which one yet.  This yarn has just been waiting for the right (baby) person! 

On to the New Knitter!  I taught her Christmas of 2007, but it didn’t take right away.  Right before Halloween of 2008 she decided she wanted to give it another try and this time, it took.  She has done 3 scarves, a baby hat, some can cozys, and is almost done with a pair of mittens that she started and has her first one almost done without my help.  She read the pattern by herself and everything.  To be fair, she did ask two questions.  One, how should she cast on the two extra stitches for the thumb, because all she knew was the long tail cast on.  I told her to look up the backward loop cast on, she did and figured it out.  The other question was “what is a darning needle?”  Cute huh?  She asked me if I had one she could borrow… actually, SHE has one but doesn’t know it yet!  Special thanks to Aubyn, Botgurl, Jenn and the Pirate for donating their extra stuff to the New Knitter.  It can get very expensive to make sure you have all the tools you need and most of us have some extra stuff  lying around.  So thank you so much guys for your generosity!  She has a GREAT set up! 

Wow!  It’s only the second week and there are new babies and new knitters, what a great year so far!

It always makes me feel good to finish things.  I seem to start and start, but not typically finish!  HA!  I have a few things to show today, woo!  

First, it’s Baby Starghan for Cheerio.   (That’s NanC and Matty’s bebeh.)  This was done in cotton-ease.

I also have a couple of caps for friends going through chemo.  The first one being modeled by my baby Nephew.   He actually walked around the house like that, running into stuff and laughing. He really cracks me up.  This cap is based on the Yarn Harlot’s basic hat pattern and I used part of the We Call Them Pirates pattern for the band. 

 One more… this is a sleeping cap for a friend with breast cancer.  I used organic cotton and the Lace-Edged Women’s Hat pattern.  I made this same cap for my Mom when she went through breast cancer and she loved it. 

In the current pile “to be finished” are two scarves, two socks, and a variety of other things that have been in the pile for a while.  I didn’t make any New Year resolutions related to that pile.  They don’t work for me.  I do intend to stick with my yarn diet of sorts… I can only buy yarn when I travel, called souvenir yarn.  I did really well with that last year!  I travel enough for work and fun that I didn’t feel deprived. 

Had a great time New Years Eve!  We went to a friends house and had a bonfire. 

Happy 2009!  Hope it is filled with love, fun, friends, and good knitting mojo!