Helleliuh!  I have something soaking in my sink….

That’s right - tonight, right before dinner, I cast off the last stitch of Icarus!  I was so excited - it was definitely time for me to be done with this project.  I thought that I was done last night when I did the last row of chart 4 - but the designer was sneaky and added four edging rows.  I was so bummed - but I finished them today, and its now socking in its bath waiting for me to block it.  I’m going to block it on the bed in the office - hopefully Larry will keep the cats off it tomorrow - and I’ll be able to unpin it after work.

I don’t want to be boring with a lot of unblocked shots, but I’ll give you a little hint of how it looks…

(is it me or does it look really crooked?  I hope its how I threw it on the chair!).  I really enjoyed this project - right up to the point where I hated it and it became a chore!  I think I’m going to love wearing it though - and I’m very pleased with it.  More details when I have blocked pictures.

I had a really great weekend - just in case you were curious, golf with Andrew was a lot of fun - and he only beat me by two strokes.  Two.  For all his trash talking, he couldn’t do better than that.  We did bet on the game, so I lost - but I think next time I just might get my money back.  I really played well - my best game ever - so perhaps the competition helps my game (Larry was rolling his eyes the whole time reminding me that I do this for fun, not to “crush” my kids….)!  But we had a really nice time, and Cieara joined us for dinner on the deck and it just was a great start to the weekend. 

Saturday was WWKIP day - and of course, I stayed home - and the knitting group came to my house!  I knit in public everyday so no big deal and we had a really nice time.  I got to spin and it was really nice to spend time outside.  I bought a little more roving this weekend - Lisa opened an Etsy shop!  I was so excited - I had to buy the roving I was drooling over.  She does beautiful colorways - go check it out!

Today was Father’s day  - a little running around, a little cooking, but enough time for a end of school year celebration pedicure with Cieara, and of course, time to finish Icarus.   

Dan came for dinner, and it was nice to have the whole family together for a meal.  They all scampered away right after dinner - as always - but it was just good to have them all back at my table.  It doesn’t seem to happen too often lately - I’m going to have to see if I can change that. 

Larry loves blueberries, so I made him a Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake - I love this recipe  - it is so good - I highly recommend it.    I’ve made this type of coffee cake before, but this recipe is different - just amazing (I really need to get back to going to the gym on a regular basis now!). 

OK, time to go pin out Icarus.  I’ll post pictures of it later this week….have a great one!

 

 

 

I am working from home today - so instead of waking up at 4:30, I woke up at 6:45…ahhhh…   I probably could have slept a little longer, but I like to get started early   - I have a ton to do today - but rather than logging in, I decided to sit and watch the news for a few minutes and drink my coffee.  And then I started reading blogs….now its 7:30 and I decided that maybe I can take a few minutes and blog myself….so much for getting started early!

Last night, Larry and I went to NJPAC to see Movin Out - it was so good.  The dancing was amazing - I didn’t actually know anything about this other than it was based on Billy Joel’s music, so the whole thing was a surprise (yes, I know that some people do actually research things they go to see before they see them!).  It really was very good - if you ever have the opportunity, I highly recommend.  Before the show, we went to dinner at a restaurant in the Ironbound section - very good food - Larry had paella, I had shrimp and it was delicous (the martinis were very good too!)  All in all, a really nice night out.  

Chris and I were IM’ing earlier this week, and somehow she convinced me to order roving from The Loopy Ewe (she’s evil like that).  I had never ordered from Loopy Ewe before but what a great experience!  I couldn’t believe how fast I got the order - and the whole thing was just so easy that I’m sure I’ll be ordering from them again.  

Anyway, back to the roving - this is from The Dyeing Arts - it is 100% superwash merino and the colorway is Goth Chick duo - this is two different colorways (2 oz each) that go together.  I love it and can’t wait to spin it up. 

There were so many pretty rovings that I had a hard time deciding - so Larry picked this one out.  it is from Sakina Needles, and it is BFL in the Popsicles colorway.   Gorgeous and just so soft…

I really was trying hard not to pick anything blue - I have a lot of blue everything and I am trying to branch out.     But….did you see Lisa’s gorgeous roving that she hand-dyed (check out her Flickr slide show  - gorgeous!)?   I love this one particularly - I am always drawn to shades of blue and green.  Sigh.  Lisa is dyeing this all up for a local show, so if you are lucky enough to be in the area, you should go and check it out! 

I have 6 more rows of Icarus to go - I think I’ve said 4000 times that I’m going to finish “this weekend” but I’m actually hoping that I really can finish it.  I have knitting group tomorrow, so that will give me lots of time.  Cross your fingers for me - this thing needs to be done!

OK, I guess I should actually go work since “working from home” should probably involve work, don’t you think?  The good news is I’m actually taking a half day.  Andrew came home from college last weekend, so we are going to play golf this afternoon.  This is the first time I’ve played with him - and I’m a little nervous.  Andrew is VERY SERIOUS about golf and super competitive.  I’m not very serious about it at all, and although I’m normally pretty competitive - I suck at golf so bad that I can’t really do anything other than laugh (and cheat!).  But I’m looking forward to it - it is a beautiful day and being out in the sun is better than being in an office building! 

Have a great Friday!

 

It was unbelievably hot here on the East Coast this weekend - and there was nothing else to do but stay inside in the AC, and do inside stuff.  Yesterday Cieara and I cleaned out her room (fun!), and today we all went to the mall and did a little shopping.  But I also had lots of time for fiber stuff - I’m half way done with chart four on Icarus (See Lisa I haven’t stopped on it and am still going on it!), and I even did a few rows on the Ballet Cami.  And I did a little coloring too…

I know its a bit blurry - but it was the only picture I took of this yarn that actually got the color right - every other picture made it look pink.  I used Kool-Aid and Knitty to dye this - and I think its really nice - sort of a coral.  I’m thinking that I may use this to make Ene’s Scarf (Ravelry link) - wouldn’t that be nice?

I also did some sock yarn - I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this - I obviously didn’t squeeze the dye through all the way and there is a lot of white still…

But I sort of like it, and think even with the white it looks nice.  But I thought that perhaps I should overdye it with another color - or with yellow.  What do you think?

I obviously shouldn’t quit my day job and become a full time dyer though, eh?  I really enjoyed myself though, and think I may try this again with “real dyes“.  There is something about the creative process of putting colors together and changing basic white yarn to something that you only saw in your mind (and apparently I saw popsicles in my mind!).

I also did a little more coloring today….

Yep, dyed my hair (aren’t you glad I didn’t use Kool-Aid?).  I usually go somewhere to have this done, but decided to see if I could do it at home.  And I sort of like it - even when I really didn’t brush my hair well!

OK, I’m off to knit a little more on Icarus….have a good week!

Can you tell what night of the week it is?

I think it is very important that my knitting match my drink.  And yes, its Friday.

This is my handspun sock - and I can’t believe how fast it is knitting up.  I’m just about done with this sock, and I’ve enjoyed knitting it so much that I didn’t sleep much on the train this week. 

I’ll finish this one tonight, and then start the second one on Monday.  So I think I’ll have a finished pair sometime next week.  Love knitting socks with DK weight.  Although I’m surprised they are going so fast - I keep on stopping to admire my yarn!  And isn’t it cool how its striping?  I had no idea it would do that.  I wish you could feel how squishy/soft this is - I can’t wait to wear them.

I’m really enjoying using my handspun (finally!).  I just got the lastest issue of SpinOff - and there are great patterns for shawl, a scarf and socks.  And I think I might be tempted to spin up some yarn and make one of them - the question is which one?  I’m really leaning towards the scarf (its on the cover).  Maybe I’ll have some new yarn to show you later this weekend…because…I’m going to have a lot of time to spin this weekend - been sort of a long and hard week and I think I’ll stay home and relax.  So I’m planning on spinning, knitting, cleaning out kids rooms (which is not very relaxing but it will be good to get it done), and probably some napping.  Maybe cupcakes too.  But that’s it.  Nothing to much because I think I need to unwind a bit.

Which brings me back to the drink and the sock.  That’s my Friday night (along with a movie).  Have a great Friday night (and a good weekend too!). 

Larry never reads my blog - I doubt he knows what the URL for it is.  He’s aware of it, of course - he doesn’t even blink when I take pictures of muffins, or force Cieara to stand on a chair so I can get a better picture of socks.   He’s supportive of my knitting and blogging, but just never got into reading it (maybe because he hears about knitting enough in real life?).  And that’s ok - especially tonight.  Because I can show you that I finally finished his Father’s Day socks….

Pattern:  Its something from Sensational Knitted Socks - can’t remember.  If I find it, I’ll update.  How is that for helpful?
Yarn:  Lorna’s Laces, Shepherd Sock, Tuscany colorway
Started:  March 24
Finished:  June 4

OK, not my fastest sock, eh?  No excuse other than I was spending a lot of my commute time on the shawl.  Now that the shawl is too big to take on the train, I went back to the socks.  Well, some of the blame for it taking so long is also that I’m more likely to sleep on the train than knit lately.  I’ve been trying to stay awake, but getting 5 or 6 hours of sleep is just not enough. 

Are you wondering why the pictures are particularly bad?  Its because I was hiding in the bathroom to take the picture so Larry wouldn’t see.  Terrible light in there.   But I wanted to blog them so I can wrap them.  If I get a better picture when he has them, I’ll post in Ravelry.

I do love Lorna’s Laces Shepherd’s Sock.  Really love it.  I think it may be my favorite sock yarn.  I just love the way it feels and the stitch definition.  And the colors.  I think I bought this at Loop last year during a knitting group yarn crawl (and I just realized its been a year since I went to Loop - I think its time for another yarn crawl!).

We bought the dogs a new dog bed - its huge and really squishy and nice.  And the dogs haven’t really had a chance to try it out…because someone has taken it over. 

Don’t you wish you could be that relaxed?  Have a great rest of the week!