little bit of crazy leaking out

This is the last project, for Project Spectrum in Blue and for June.  I cast on this morning and have worked on it off and on all day, and here is the finished product.

pattern:  Mason-Dixon Washcloth
yarn:  Lion Cotton Americana
cast on/off:  June 30th
notes:  While I was making my first Mason-Dixon washcloth I thought I had miscounted on the eyelet row because my eyelets kept coming up uneven between the bobbles.  I was able to even them out and continued on to finish.  On this one I ran into the same trouble.  I looked, I counted, I charted it out . . . the way it is written you come out with uneven eyelets.  I switched to: 
[(k1, yo, k2tog) 3 times, k5, (k1, yo, k2tog) 3 times] 6 times 
and the eyelets are even between the bobbles.

After casting on 150sts
this is all the tail I had left, yikes!

In the last week I have knit up a few more of the Ballband Dishcloths.

pattern: Ballband Dishcloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting
yarn: (top to bottom)
    Lion Cotton Morning Glory Blue & Sugar n Cream Cornflower
    Lion Cotton Americana & Sugar n Cream Cornflower
    Lion Cotton Poppy Red and Denim Swirl
note: I finished another one in Sugar n Cream Ecru & Cornflower, but it is at the LYS as a sample for the Mason-Dixon book.

Last Saturday the family all piled into the car with the intent of heading upto Whidbey Island.  It was going to be another hot day even though it wasn’t 10am yet.   When we got to the ferry line it was all the way up the hill, a two and a half hour wait at the least.  We decided to walk onto the ferry and have MIL pick us up on the other side.  Walking on, when not the ‘plan’, is always an adventure with the kids and all the accessories that come with them: car seats, blankets, bag of toys, etc.

We had a nice visit, had a nice lunch, the kids were able to expolre the property (10 acres), and look for deer, rabbits, and other wildlife.  There was one field of daisys and Daughter and I made a necklace of them.

Hubby took the kids for a ride on the lawn mower.  Daughter wasn’t too thrilled at the idea, but did go for a ride and loved it.  Son was excited about the ride and ended up hating it and screaming until Hubby stopped.  Go figure.

pattern: Star dishcloth from the Dishcloth-a-Month KAL
yarn:  Sugar ‘n Cream - cornflower
cast on:  June 17th   cast off:  June 22nd
notes:  I like the idea of this pattern but I’m not sure I like the pattern itself.  You have to block it severly to get it to lay flat, I think it needs to start with fewer stitches and add some increase to make it lay flat.

I was sorting thru a pile of things and found these mittens I finished for the Dulaan Project this month.

pattern:  Dulaan Easy-on Kids Mittens
yarn: 100% superwash wool
needles: clover bamboo US6
cast-on/off: June
notes:  I like this pattern . . . very easy . . . very quick.  I will be making up several pairs I’m sure.  The only thing I will change on future pairs is the decrease at the top of the mittens.  Instead of the matched double decreases on either side I will decrease evenly around, more like a round toe on a sock.  With the decreases as they are knit the seam ends up looking a bit wonkey when you get them on an actual hand, though they look great sans-hand.

Here they are on my 6yo and you can see the ridge going up the middle of the fingers.  With the decreases more evenly spaced you wouldn’t see that, just a personal preference, I think.

    

Computer troubles kept me away from the computer but I have been knitting.  I have to say, it is amazing what you can get done when you aren’t sitting on your butt in front of the computer, go figure.  I have been sorting thru e-mail, man, I get a lot of junk e-mail, and trying to catch up with Bloglines (good luck).

In the knitting world I have two washrags and a pair of socks on the needles, a felted tote bag that I’m not sure if I am happy with; I need to re-wet it, block it, sew on the handles and line it, then we’ll see.

I have finished a few small projects.

pattern: Ballband Dishcloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting
yarn:  Lily Sugar ‘n Cream both in Hot Green and Summer Splash but alternating color A and B.  I think I prefer the one with the varigation in the background (color A). 

pattern:  Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting
yarn:  Cascade 220
notes:  I really feel the neck needs a bit of refining and reshaping.  On the next one I will do a little fiddleing with the neck.  Instead of ribbon for the ties I used twisted yarn, and I added a tie to the inside to keep the front from drooping.  This is my first project for Dulaan Project 2007.

pattern:  another Ballband Dishcloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting
yarn:  Lily Sugar ‘n Cream in Cornflower and Violet Veil

pattern: Mason-Dixon Washcloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting
yarn:  Lion Cotton in Seaspray
notes:  according to the book I’m allowed to say “Day-um, I’m good!” since I knit it while watching TV (The Closer on DVD).  Actually this is a pretty easy cloth to knit just a lot of stitches to keep track of in the beginning, especially with the eyelets, bobbles and all.  Still, not a hard knit just a bit fidley at first.  I knit this up to include in a gift for Daughter’s teacher.  I placed a ‘bath ball’ inside the washcloth and tied it up with a twisted cord.  I think it makes for a cute little package.

 

I also did some cleaning and Hubby and I rearranged some furniture.  We sent off two dressers to Goodwill and we’re looking for a good way to get rid of a slipcovered sofa.  It’s a sleeper sofa and it’s just too big for our house, the slipcover needs to be washed and one arm has two small holes, each about the size of a dime, but because of the holes Goodwill said no.  Oh, well.  Right now it’s sitting in the dining room, so the dining table is half in the living room, so much for interior design. 

I did manage to clean the hallway that my laundry closet is in, it seemed to become a dumping area for things with no home. Here is the after photo, click on it if you are brave, and want to see the shocking before photo.

Speaking of laundry . . .

In other news, our house continued to be a plague house for the rest of May and the first weeks of June.  Just when Son was getting better, Daughter got sick, then she seemed to recover and picked up something else.  After talking with her Dr. we’re thinking it may actually be allergies, so we will take her in for testing this summer.  Hopefully we can get this figured out before school starts in the fall.

The garden is continueing to grow and I am fighting the Canadian thistles daily, darn those Canadians. ;-)  I’ve been doing some reading and was able to finish Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie and Sarah by Marek Halter and I’ve started The Queen’s Fool by Philippa Gregory.  There are a couple other titles on my nightstand too, I can’t seem read only one book at a time, never have really.

Guess that’s enough . . . such an exciting life I have here. lol