Birthday Surprise!

Today is my birthday and I got a most wonderful surprise in mail from my Swedish pen pal! Thank you so very much, I love it all and it made my day!

Another nice thing to have today is an overcast sky. It has been a very hot week, but it drizzled a bit during the night and now we have a gentle breeze and shade with the temperature down to 30 C (86 F).

Another Cast-on And A Knitting Resolution

I was enabled by a friend recently to start a lace project KAL. So last night, I cast on 600 + stitches for the three cornered shawl in clover pattern (ravelry link). This brings the total of knitting WIPs to four, including 1 cardigan (CeCe) and three shawls (Clapotis, Gail and this latest project). Added to this, I had planned to join a spinning challenge this July.
As it is, I am pleasantly innundated with knitting, but I realize anymore would tip the balance and cause utter chaos in my world. So, I hereby resolve to hold myself back from casting on anymore projects, until I have finished at least two of these four, InshaAllah!
Now, off I go to do some seroius knitting :) How long do you think it will take me to finish two projects and which ones are getting done first? I myself do not know at this point.

Cece Update

I've been working on my Cece cardigan for the last few days and I have come to the point (finally!) where I divide for armholes. I decided to make the cardigan a little longer than the pattern calls for and adjusted my increases accordingly. It looks promising :)

I have an Award!

Gloria of Hooked on Yarn One Stitch at a Time recently nominated me for this award:

Thank you so much Gloria, though I'm sure, current hot weather is sapping away my creativity, LOL!

The rules with this award are to:

1) List 7 things you love.

2) Link back to the person who gave you the award.

3) Pass it along to 7 other bloggers

7 things I love:

• my Faith.
• my family. My kids are at their most adorable when asleep :)
• the ability to connect to my friends daily via internet.
  
• the feel of yarn in my hands.
• the sights and smells of old book shops.
• the peace and quiet of the night.
• the luxury of settling down in front of TV with some project or snack.

I would like to pass this on to:

• Shells
• Ulla
• Nakia
• Vickiknit
• Suna
• Stefaneener
• Riohnna
  

It is a...

In the last post, I asked my readers what my WIP was going to be. Allison thought it was going to be a skirt and Sabrina that it was a baby blanket. :) Now, my project is finished and it is a....

...circular vest/shrug. I used this pattern (rav link) for the basic shape but used this wave st pattern instead of mock rib and used provisional cast on to knit the body first and then did the ribbing in rounds. As you can see, I used my handspun for the ribbing. the contrasting yarns (Patons Classic Wool) are not exactly my first choice for the project but these were the closest I could get in my stash, to the handspun in weight and color.
All in all, it turned out OK. (It's hard to take a good picture with it laid flat)

My New Project

After doing three pattern repeats on my Gail shawl, I looked for fun elsewhere and started this project. This was basically intended to use up my very first handspun, though I have not reached that point yet. I am only halfway through this wave pattern, right now. The brown yarn at the bottom is the crochet provisional cast-on. Can you take a guess at what it is going to be?

Cable Top- Free Pattern

I did manage to write a pattern for this cable top I knit last month for my daughter. And after some wonderful help from two awesome testers, the pattern is available now as a free download at my ravelry store. Click on the link below to download the file.

download now

Raspberry Lemonade is Up

After being test knitted in all the sizes (2,4,6,8,and 10 years) by some wonderful testers, the pattern for the little summer top is now up for sale at my ravelry store. The credit for the name goes to a ravelry friend.

Yarn weight: DK / 8 ply (11 wpi)

Gauge: 21 stitches and 36 rows = 4 inches in st st

Needle size: US 4 - 3.5 mm, US 2½ - 3.0 mm

Hook size: 3.5 mm (E)

Yardage: 250 - 600 yards (229 - 549 m)

Sizes available: 2 (4, 6, 8, 10) years

Finished measurements:
Chest: 24 (26, 28, 30, 32) inches
Length: 12 (14, 16, 18, 20) inches

Gail /Nightsongs

Yesterday, I cast on another lace project, mostly because I was finding hard to pick up my DK yarn for Cece in this heat. I am using Knit Picks Shimmer that I got from a friend to knit up Gail (aka Nightsongs).

I am using gold colored beads in this knit. My first time with the beads. I had a great time knitting this yesterday, I haven't enjoyed a knit that much in some time. I have about 6 or seven pattern repeats to do yet and for the moment this is my favorite WIP.

My Sewing Box

I have done little knitting during the last few days, partly because it was too hot to handle yarn and partly because I was busy with some sewing. While my sewing projects are still in progress and are not currently bloggable, I wanted to show you my sewing box.

I made it several years ago and don't remember all the details. I just had an idea of making an expandable box to hold all my sewing needs and one evening, set forth to make it. That was before kids' time, of course, LOL!

As you can see, it is a cube which opens out flat. There are pockets with elastic edging on three sides and the lid, while the fourth side has space for holding scissors, measuring tape etc. there is also a small pincushion, though I later found it too hard for my taste and so use another one. There is enough place in the cube to hold all the sewing related supplies for the project I happen to have at hand.

It has thin card board between two layers of fabric to maintain its shape. I did some sort of applique on the sides' and the lid's exterior, as well as crochet edging along all the edges.

Though it lacks finesse and glamor and has worn with time, but it is quite handy and practical, easy to store and I am getting good use out of it. And did I mention, I quite love it!

A Little Fun Project!

OK, I feel a little silly posting this, especially after my last project!

Recently, when I cleaned my refrigerator, I noticed the fridge handles were the most used parts and took quite a while to clean. So, my knit/crochet obsessed mind instantly came up with a solution, LOL. Here I present a fridge handle cover which took about a hour to crochet, using worsted cotton scraps.

I would have gone for some brighter, more appropriate colors but did not want to use up new balls for something that might not turn out so well. I don't know how practical this is, but will soon find out.

Scheherezade Stole

I finally finished the Coatimundi KAL's Scheherazade Stole today. Took me a long time but then I worked on it only intermittently. It took me about 1050 yards of Knit Picks Shadow on 3.75 mm needles.

Being an novice at blocking, I had sore fingers by the time all the pins were in, but the blocked stole is so awesome! It's like an ugly duckling turning into a beautiful swan. The warm, dry weather dried up the shawl in just half an hour, less than the time it took me to block the whole piece, LOL.